Tales of the Oniwaban
A fanfic from the Rurouni Kenshin universe
by eriesalia
Chapter Three: Seijin no Hi (coming of age) Part I
This is PG-13 for many implied scenarios.
In Edo Japan, boys came of age at the age of 15. In 1876, the Meiji government changed that age officially to 20. Since then, the coming of age has been observed at age 20 on a special ceremony on January 15th. Superficially this title refers to that, and yet the coming of age is not meant literally to apply to just one person, but to a number of people.
It was not unusual to see them arguing. Or rather, to see her arguing with him. Aoshi Shinomori, it was said, never argued but merely voiced his disagreement -- even when in most circumstances, he turned out to be right.
But Megumi wasn't exactly the type to go along meekly with anything he stated. So she persisted in her questioning, down the hallway, down the stairs, through the courtyard and into his office. After all, in her mind, she most certainly did have a right to know. "—This isn't just about you, and your past. I'm not the jealous type you know."
A brief look of amusement crossed his face, only to be replaced by a much more serious expression. He turned away from her and instead looked at some of the books he had placed on top of his work table. "It is not something for me to divulge."
"I don't care about the geisha –" If he had been observing her while he was rifling through his papers, he would have noted the flushed look on her face as she struggled to find a diplomatic way to talk about the mystery that at the moment concerned her. She was no naive young woman to believe that all visits with geishas were just about games and tea. "—After all, I know that it's tradition for a boy to mark his passage into manhood with--"
The sound of paper moving stopped. "—It was a mistake to go there. That is all that need be said."
"But Okina—"
He turned his slightly, enough so she could see his face. "—And I'll gladly admit that I was humiliated by the entire experience."
The idea of Aoshi Shinomori being humiliated was intriguing, and for a moment she was silenced. However, it was only a moment. Megumi was not a woman easily distracted.
"Tachiko—" She switched tactics. "Who was Tachiko? Okina kept mentioning her in his sleep."
He appeared somewhat startled. "I did not hear that."
"He also mentioned the Okashira a number of times," she continued slowly, watching his face. "And your name."
She pressed further, trying to understand the various things Okina had stated both while sleeping and while awake.. "She was someone in Shimabara, wasn't she?"
His nod of agreement was almost too slight to be detected by anyone. But she had sharp eyes, not as sharp as his own -- but good enough. She narrowed those eyes. "And you won't say more than that?"
"If I could tell it as it is meant to be told, then I would. But it is not what you think--"
"It was a long time ago--" she started again, her eyes evading his in that awkward moment. "As I said, it is expected--"
And yet her face revealed her disappointment, and a pang of doubt. Shinomori's past life -- that of his early days as Okashira -- were still unknown to her and to many others. Only Okina of those she knew well in the Oniwabanshuu would reveal anything of those days. Aoshi's other comrades were far too loyal and held themselves somewhat aloof from her per his orders. And yet, those details of his past were things she wanted to know -- if only because the glimpses that she had of him from that past life had allowed her to put her trust fully in him in the present.
He sighed. "--She was not someone I knew about, until much later. I had only been here for a short time -- the Okashira was ailing. After my only experience in Shimabara, I returned to Edo. Her name only came up once in the reports I received while up in Edo. And yet, she was far more important than I realized."
As she saw a flash of regret cross his face and his eyes look towards the window indicating that he was far away in thought and dwelling on something unpleasant, she knew that his reluctance to talk had little to do with him, but with someone or something else. She stepped forward and closed the gap between them -- sorry that she had doubted him even for that one small moment. "Aoshi-- I'm sorry."
"So am I--" he absently accepted the hand she offered in comfort while he thought aloud. "To me -- she was nothing more than a geisha in an average tea-house. But from what I was later told by the other Kyoto Oniwabanshuu -- to Okina—she was much more."
~
In the end, he had distracted her from further questioning with his own verbal and physical assurances that he did not find anything in Shimabara worth remembering.
As she woke the next morning, she was disappointed to find him gone from their room. But with Okina's health on his mind, he would be busy tending to Okina's own affairs as well as his own usual tasks. And even though he no longer was Okashira, he would toil even harder -- if only to ensure that the current leader would not have her burden increased more.
But the look of regret and sadness on Aoshi's face bothered her. She understood he did not feel it to be his place to talk beyond the fact that he had been at Shimabara, but there was clearly more. But he did not prevent her from pursuing the matter further. That was the extent to which he trusted her.
She had thought Okina to be joking when he had uttered the name of one of the most well-known geisha districts in Kyoto. But now to her it appeared that perhaps somewhere underneath that comment he had been alluding something much more. And now that it was no longer a simple issue; she debated for a few days on what to do. She was not nosy, but she desired two things: first to understand what troubled Okina when he slept; and second the reason why sometimes she would see something odd pass over his face when he looked at her.
It was a very poorly kept secret that Okina held a great affection for her. Not only because she had brought something resembling fun and laughter back into his life with their constant verbal sparring, but as he had alluded to before also because she reminded him of someone he had treasured in the past.
Was it this 'Tachiko?'
The connection was tenuous at best, and yet -- it was almost too difficult to not resist the desire to know if when he looked at her, it was this person he was reminded of. And finally, when she could not bear it any longer, she decided to turn to the women she had come to know most in the Oniwabanshu for the answers.
"Shimabara?!" Omasu and Okon erupted into a fit of giggles as soon as she had uttered the notorious name, ignoring the tea in front of them.
Their youngest companion looked up from her bowl of rice and broth. "What does that place have to do with Okina?"
"Not just Okina—" Megumi added in a bit testily as Okon and Omasu snickered at the innocuous remarks of Misao, who despite her claim to womanhood was not as well-acquainted with some particular matters concerning men and their habits. "Aoshi as well."
Omasu smirked as she suddenly remembered something.. "Of course. I remember that story. Aoshi-san was about to become Okashira after all – there was no way Okina would allow that without Aoshi making his passage into manhood without-- well—" she looked worriedly at Misao. "err—"
"If you are holding back on my account, then you are being a fool." Misao glared. "I am your Okashira if you recall and everything in the past is relevant to my business now."
"Of course it is," Megumi interjected smoothly.
Okon shot Omasu a disgusted look for saying as much as she did for now Misao would not let this pass. "Now that you've started -- you tell the story."
"But I wasn't really old enough to understand—" Omasu looked a bit less courageous under the intense scrutiny of her tea companions. "I just heard some things from the other women – those who were working secretly as maids in the tea rooms."
Misao was still thoroughly confused. "Well, so what if he had tea in Shimabara?"
"Men who are fifteen don't just have tea," Megumi added somewhat blandly. "Especially if Okina is the sponsor. Men and geisha often--"
"Sensei—" the other two ladies warned.
"She has come of age. She needs to know," Megumi stated pragmatically. "So was it a pleasure trip?"
Misao's eyes grew round. "Pleasure trip? Are you saying that—"
"Noooo---" Omasu was waving her hands in protest. "– you have it all wrong. Believe us, and if you don't believe us you can easily ask Kuro. "
"Kuro wasn't old enough," Megumi stated as calmly as she could, aware of the slightly panicked look on Misao's face. Of course it was understandable, given that Misao now understood exactly what she was implying. . "He would have been fourteen then. He certainly would not have been allowed to attend the geisha."
"Kuro was dragged along," Omasu corrected her. "Although he was forced to sit downstairs and wait for the others."
This apparent historical discrepency immediately prompted a comment from Okon, who suddenly seemed quite certain that Kuro had not followed the other men to the teahouses.
Megumi felt her patience tested as she saw clearly through the argument. The issue of whether Kuro had been there or not was not important -- they were merely using him as a reason to not discuss Shimabara. That Misao had indicated that she wanted to know everything of the past had become obscured by their own wish for Misao to stay forever young and unaware of the world and minds of men.
She saw Misao sigh.
Finally, she could bear the arguing no more. "The geisha Tachiko. Was she there that day?"
Omasu and Misao turned their heads in her direction somewhat confused.
Okon stared at Megumi, not aware that her fists were clenched her lap.
"Okon?" Misao suddenly noticed the tension between the two eldest women in the room.
"Who told you about her?!" Okon's voice trembled slightly -- whether due to outrage or anger, one could not tell. "Was it one of the men?"
They were confounded by the sudden change in Okon's normally placid temperament. But Megumi saw that it was not her that Okon's anger was directed at -- but at someone or something else. "Okina has been having fitful dreams . Her name came up several times."
"I see," Okon looked away for a moment. "So that woman hasn't left his mind after all these years, has she?"
"Who was she?" Misao voiced the question that the other two women did not dare ask, but now wanted even more to know the answer to.
"Tachiko -- the laughing geisha." Okon looked down at her cup. "The woman that Okina loved. The woman who, in the end, betrayed him."
To quote Aoshi Shinomori: "Let's stop here." This particular subtale started it seems, almost accidentally with a misunderstanding. It hopefully will not contradict what Okina had alluded to in "Another Chance" and something of which Okon and Aoshi had seemed to know about. Moreover, I hope that you guys are still with me on this as I spend some time talking about Okina and his own tale of doomed romance.
I had no intent of doing this this early... but Kenni was bored :-p, and so I'm going to jeopardize the smaller happier tales I wanted to tell by bringing this up now. Sorry for the SAT vocab here. Non-native speakers feel free to ask "What did you mean?" in your review or emails.
Geishas are not courtesans. Let me state that... but geishas aren't exactly entertainers either, particularly before the Meiji era. This ambiguity is what makes geisha so interesting to me, and controversial in their own right.
And now that I've gone and fixed historical context or perhaps confused you all. Let's continue.
