Chapter Eleven: Danna
Sakura was once again in a place she recognised – her room in the tea house. Mother had offered her another room on the second floor, where the earning geishas lived, but Sakura had refused and stayed in the only place she knew everything about. Memories came back to her about every floor board that creaked, how to undo the lock to the window which always stuck, and the amazing view she had out of her window which framed a large cedar tree which she played on in her youth.
Everyday she dedicated some time to memory exercises which had been given to her by the doctor, as she desperately tried to recover anything from the few months before her incident. She had been going over some of these when Tomoyo gently knocked on her door.
"How are you feeling?" she questioned as she walked over to the dressing table which Sakura was perched in front of.
Sakura had been out of the hospital for nearly two months already and had been attending parties with Kima to get to know the regular customers of the area. It had been hard work and had worn her out, especially as more and more requested started coming in for her to attend places.
"Can I ask you something?" Tomoyo shuddered lightly at the thought of what the following question could be.
"Would you call me pretty?" Tomoyo couldn't help but laugh from relief.
"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious!"
"How can you even ask something like that? Are you tired from the amount of parties you've had to attend the past few weeks? The requests speak for themselves."
There was a slight pause, before Sakura looked her friend directly in the eyes.
"Then why doesn't anyone want me?"
"What are you talking about?" Putting an arm around the frail girl, Sakura flinched slightly as she was still trying to build up her weight and was in a delicate state. 'How could anyone even send her out to work in this condition?' Tomoyo wondered. 'She must also flinch away from customers. Still, they keep asking for her, so it obviously isn't damaging her reputation.'
The panic had go the best of Sakura as she stood to pace the room, letting out all her thoughts flow from her mouth, dripping with worry.
"Mother has been so kind to me since I returned from the hospital, but she can not support me forever. I owe her so much – food, education, clothes. A couple of days ago she presented me with a new silk kimono. The embroidery was so exquisite, I though she must have been mistaken and had meant to give it to Meiko. I tried to return it, but she refused. Now I've gone and added doctor's bills to all of this. I may not even be able to pay half, maybe less than that even, if I don't get a Danna. Nobody has even shown the slightest bit of interest in me like that. What can I do?"
Tomoyo smiled to herself. Li had kept the kimono quiet, even though she regularly asked for updates on Sakura. This poor thing that had gotten herself so worked up about something that she had no worry about – compared to the other girls in the teahouse, she had a Danna that was paying enough to keep the teahouse open even if all the girls stopped working. However, Tomoyo couldn't tell her any of this, and therefore had no way to console her.
A few days later, Sakura's hopes were lifted by the announcement that she had been asked to attend a private meeting that lunchtime across town in the Suwa teahouse. It shouldn't have taken her long to prepare herself in the casual daytime kimono, but she spent extra time on her hair and makeup so that she would not disappoint anyone – her customer or mother.
As she arrived outside the room, she took a deep breath as she positioned herself outside the door, before sliding it open. Keeping her eyes down, she greeted herself, and then made her way to the centre of the room.
He was quite an old man, about mid thirties, obviously from the west. This instantly made it seem like this man was unobtainable for a Danna, as was probably only visiting Japan, on business maybe, and was curious about geishas, however, Sakura's thoughts were proven wrong as she spoke to her about his move to the country after his recent purchase of a chain of factories in the district. This meant not only would he not be returning to the west, but also that he had the money to become a Danna.
All in all, she felt the meeting went quite well, as it lasted over the agreed two hours. She had entertained with stories and tales that she had heard from others as well as anecdotes she had picked up from parties. He seemed pleased to just able to talk and did not ask for any performances. This was a relief, Sakura thought, as she had only ever danced on stage, or in front of a crowd – a single person as an audience seemed daunting and some what... embarrassing.
It was a pleasant afternoon, but that seemed to be all it was, as she did not hear from him again. Not to her knowledge in any case.
Arriving home one evening, Sakura found the new girl asleep while on door duty. Glad to be the one that found her, she gently tapped her awake to pass her some mints she had picked up at one of the parties. The young girl was grateful as she had learnt quickly who in the house would be cruel, and who, like Sakura, would help her adjust to the new life she was in.
Slipping on her house slippers, Sakura's feet softly glided through the hallway towards her room until she noticed the office light still on. Changing her route to make her way over see if mother was up, or if she had fallen asleep while looking at the account books, she was shocked to hear a male voice coming from behind the door. It wasn't a friendly voice either.
Scared for mothers safety, she was about to enter the room anyway but stopped at the mention of her name and placed her ear to the door instead.
"What do you mean, you can't accept the offer? I've had at least three offers down at the registry for this girl, and the prices are high. They will not go much higher. If you hold back anymore, they will avert their attention somewhere else, taking their money with them."
"I've explained before," Mothers voice shook with panic, it could easily be heard that she was loosing this verbal battle. "Konabe has a Danna. She is already being paid for and one of the conditions was that she had no customers. I can not risk compromising this situation."
"Compromising? How will he find out? We could easily make a healthy income from this girl and you're not even willing to sell her mizu-age!"
He paused. "This matter is no longer in your hands, the registry have rights on this girl too. If you do not comply, your position can easily be filled."
Sakura silently crept away, pondering what she had just heard.
"How can I have a Danna?"
Sakura was once again in a place she recognised – her room in the tea house. Mother had offered her another room on the second floor, where the earning geishas lived, but Sakura had refused and stayed in the only place she knew everything about. Memories came back to her about every floor board that creaked, how to undo the lock to the window which always stuck, and the amazing view she had out of her window which framed a large cedar tree which she played on in her youth.
Everyday she dedicated some time to memory exercises which had been given to her by the doctor, as she desperately tried to recover anything from the few months before her incident. She had been going over some of these when Tomoyo gently knocked on her door.
"How are you feeling?" she questioned as she walked over to the dressing table which Sakura was perched in front of.
Sakura had been out of the hospital for nearly two months already and had been attending parties with Kima to get to know the regular customers of the area. It had been hard work and had worn her out, especially as more and more requested started coming in for her to attend places.
"Can I ask you something?" Tomoyo shuddered lightly at the thought of what the following question could be.
"Would you call me pretty?" Tomoyo couldn't help but laugh from relief.
"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious!"
"How can you even ask something like that? Are you tired from the amount of parties you've had to attend the past few weeks? The requests speak for themselves."
There was a slight pause, before Sakura looked her friend directly in the eyes.
"Then why doesn't anyone want me?"
"What are you talking about?" Putting an arm around the frail girl, Sakura flinched slightly as she was still trying to build up her weight and was in a delicate state. 'How could anyone even send her out to work in this condition?' Tomoyo wondered. 'She must also flinch away from customers. Still, they keep asking for her, so it obviously isn't damaging her reputation.'
The panic had go the best of Sakura as she stood to pace the room, letting out all her thoughts flow from her mouth, dripping with worry.
"Mother has been so kind to me since I returned from the hospital, but she can not support me forever. I owe her so much – food, education, clothes. A couple of days ago she presented me with a new silk kimono. The embroidery was so exquisite, I though she must have been mistaken and had meant to give it to Meiko. I tried to return it, but she refused. Now I've gone and added doctor's bills to all of this. I may not even be able to pay half, maybe less than that even, if I don't get a Danna. Nobody has even shown the slightest bit of interest in me like that. What can I do?"
Tomoyo smiled to herself. Li had kept the kimono quiet, even though she regularly asked for updates on Sakura. This poor thing that had gotten herself so worked up about something that she had no worry about – compared to the other girls in the teahouse, she had a Danna that was paying enough to keep the teahouse open even if all the girls stopped working. However, Tomoyo couldn't tell her any of this, and therefore had no way to console her.
A few days later, Sakura's hopes were lifted by the announcement that she had been asked to attend a private meeting that lunchtime across town in the Suwa teahouse. It shouldn't have taken her long to prepare herself in the casual daytime kimono, but she spent extra time on her hair and makeup so that she would not disappoint anyone – her customer or mother.
As she arrived outside the room, she took a deep breath as she positioned herself outside the door, before sliding it open. Keeping her eyes down, she greeted herself, and then made her way to the centre of the room.
He was quite an old man, about mid thirties, obviously from the west. This instantly made it seem like this man was unobtainable for a Danna, as was probably only visiting Japan, on business maybe, and was curious about geishas, however, Sakura's thoughts were proven wrong as she spoke to her about his move to the country after his recent purchase of a chain of factories in the district. This meant not only would he not be returning to the west, but also that he had the money to become a Danna.
All in all, she felt the meeting went quite well, as it lasted over the agreed two hours. She had entertained with stories and tales that she had heard from others as well as anecdotes she had picked up from parties. He seemed pleased to just able to talk and did not ask for any performances. This was a relief, Sakura thought, as she had only ever danced on stage, or in front of a crowd – a single person as an audience seemed daunting and some what... embarrassing.
It was a pleasant afternoon, but that seemed to be all it was, as she did not hear from him again. Not to her knowledge in any case.
Arriving home one evening, Sakura found the new girl asleep while on door duty. Glad to be the one that found her, she gently tapped her awake to pass her some mints she had picked up at one of the parties. The young girl was grateful as she had learnt quickly who in the house would be cruel, and who, like Sakura, would help her adjust to the new life she was in.
Slipping on her house slippers, Sakura's feet softly glided through the hallway towards her room until she noticed the office light still on. Changing her route to make her way over see if mother was up, or if she had fallen asleep while looking at the account books, she was shocked to hear a male voice coming from behind the door. It wasn't a friendly voice either.
Scared for mothers safety, she was about to enter the room anyway but stopped at the mention of her name and placed her ear to the door instead.
"What do you mean, you can't accept the offer? I've had at least three offers down at the registry for this girl, and the prices are high. They will not go much higher. If you hold back anymore, they will avert their attention somewhere else, taking their money with them."
"I've explained before," Mothers voice shook with panic, it could easily be heard that she was loosing this verbal battle. "Konabe has a Danna. She is already being paid for and one of the conditions was that she had no customers. I can not risk compromising this situation."
"Compromising? How will he find out? We could easily make a healthy income from this girl and you're not even willing to sell her mizu-age!"
He paused. "This matter is no longer in your hands, the registry have rights on this girl too. If you do not comply, your position can easily be filled."
Sakura silently crept away, pondering what she had just heard.
"How can I have a Danna?"