FOUR
(Hizaro's PoV)
Four
(Hizaro PoV)
It was my first day of Entrance Duty, and I wasn't looking forward to it. My black eye had darkened and become more sensitive, though the swelling had gone down. My long black hair was tied back into a sleek, straight pony tail, and my large black over shirt had been left in my room. I was told that I wasn't to look at all manly for today's work. I still wore my baggy black pants that cinched at the ankles and waist, and a small black shirt with skinny straps for sleeves.
The only wardrobe change that I had offered was to leave the over shirt behind. My now exposed chest should cover whatever else I had problems with. As masculine as I try to be, my over abundant bust had always stopped me from successfully masquerading as a man. I refused to leave my swords behind, and they allowed it. I just couldn't wear them. They were leaning up against the one of the walls at my station.
A few clients looked at them too hard, but nobody tried anything. By noon, I was cursing my very life, but as relief, my co-workers sent me to fetch lunch. The sun was back again, and this time the air was dry. I was going to sun burn, that was for sure. My skin had always been overly fair toned, and I'd never been able to last long in the sun.
I finally found the stand they told me about, and clunked the coins on the counter. I scanned the menu, looking for options.
"'Eh miss! Whad'ya like?" A fat, gruff man shouted from behind the stoves.
"Yea, uh, gimme five orders of the number 7!" Was my reply.
"Comin' riiight up!"
I Leaned against the counter, but found myself blinded and scorched in the sun. I went back to standing, but I faced the other direction. As I watched the cook prepare orders, I got the feeling that someone was looking at me. My hand went to rest on the katana at my hip. It was not a threat, but a precaution. Soon I found myself mesmerized in the steam from the stove pots and frying contraptions, and the smell of food was everywhere. I've always had a habit of spacing out like that. So when he finally spoke, I didn't hear him right away. He was just a distant voice breaking my reverie.
"So, they caught you then?" He said. I didn't know the voice, but he spoke as if we had met. I turned slightly to my right to look at him. Then I knew. His face was pretty much in shadow, as the sun was at our backs, but the color of his clothing, and the unfamiliar face proved him to be the traveler that I had run into the previous day. I supposed that he had seen my eye.
"Yes, they did." I said politely. We didn't speak for sometime, and a terrible silence enveloped the food stand. My order was ready, so I scooped it up and turned to leave. Something made me stop. I had to say something to him. I couldn't be rude.
"Have you spoken to Toyo yet?" I said, again quietly.
"Not yet, but we will. We must find a job opening. Do you know of any?" His voice was so smooth. I actually got lost in the way it sounded, forgetting to process his words. I decided to let him in on a secret. I turned to face him.
"You don't have to do that you know. You're ronin, isn't that right?" I asked excitedly. "You and your friend, does he fight?"
"Yes, Mugen fights." He was so solemn. I almost couldn't stand it.
"You can apply for body guarding. They can never have too many of us." I laughed, "We always end up dieing." I turned to leave again and he asked,
"What about my other companion, Fuu, a girl. What can she do?"
"She can clean, right?" And I left him with that.
For a silly conversation like that, the atmosphere was far too intense. Maybe it was just the way that guy acted. He sure gave me the willy's. What a strange guy.
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"Hey bitches, I got your food!" I shouted through the door. I think I got soap thrown at me along with a barrage of shoes, brushes, and some things that I simply couldn't identify. It's risky business calling a woman a 'bitch', at least in this line of work. "Ok, sorry, sorry! Jeeze!...I got your damn food…" I handed the bag to Junin and they all dug in.
I wandered over to my station and sat, waiting for a client. Three hours passed and we had an old man, a fourteen year old girl, and some creepy twins, but I refused to take any of them. I didn't want to bathe people unless I had to.
Finally, the block master got word that the strange travelers were coming to the House, and that they were to pass through the Entrance just like everyone else. He came down to our department and opened the door for them. Three silhouettes stood in the diminishing light, waiting to be addressed.
"Welcome Newcomers! I am Tomi, here to explain our Entrance Polocies! I am sure that you are aware, but this happens to be the House of Toyo, and you, like everyone else, must follow the strict cleansing and disarming policies. Though Master Toyo is a rich and powerful man, he is extremely paranoid and precautious. He fears anything that he believes to be life threatening, and that includes infectious bacteria! He never leaves these walls, and therefore, his immune system is very weak. He asks that you all take strategic baths, and lock up all outside clothing and belongings in a safe-keeping chest beyond the main rooms. These are our servants!" He stepped aside and gestured to us. We stepped forward enthusiastically (Well, they did. I tried my best to look bored.). "You will have one assigned to you to guide you through the process. Master Toyo does not wish to have you taking short cuts with your bath." He laughed a conspiratorial guffaw and turned back to us again. "Hiza!" He barked. I stepped forward.
"Yea Tomi?" I still looked bored.
"You take care of the nice man in blue." He turned to Junin. "You, take the rabid looking fellow. Anzu, you take the young lady." Then he stalked away, fake enthusiasm already melting. Tomi was known for looking 'oh so joyed to see you' on a command. He had to, in order to make the boss happy. And anybody who didn't have a death wish did whatever it took to make the boss happy. I stepped forward and addressed the tall man in blue.
"Sir, please follow me." I did an about face and walked quickly and professionally over to my station. When we arrived, I pulled the curtain closed behind him. "Please, remove your outer clothing." I'd always hated introducing newcomers to the process of humiliation. You have to pretend like you don't care how they feel, and they get all indignant and flustered.
"Excuse me?" He said in that smooth voice of his. I sighed heavily and moved one hand to my hip, and one to my forehead in exhaustion.
"You heard me," I groaned, "I said remove your outer clothing. Look, it gets worse, but I'm gonna try to cut you some slack later, ok? I don't think your dignity should suffer just cause you wanna earn a buck." I looked up at him hopefully. "So whadya say? Be cooperative?" He looked at me hard for a while, then seemed to make a decision. He began to remove his clothes.
"Fine." That was the last thing he would say for a while. After I secured his shirt, glasses, shoes, and a few other personal items, I told him to face the back wall. He did without a word. I took a deep breath and took his wrists, and pressed them against the wall in front of him. He struggled slightly, obviously not enjoying the forceful gesture, and he turned to glare at me over his shoulder.
"Hey, come on, I'm just doin my job here." I said quietly. "You think I enjoy Entrance Duty? It sucks. Ok, I'm going to pat you down now to make sure you don't have any hidden weapons." When I had searched him and come up clean, I reached for his swords. He lurched and backed away, hand on them protectively. I knew that look on his face. I had worn that very same expression many times in my life. It means, 'Get the fuck away from my swords.' I looked at the floor, ashamed of myself. "Hey. You can't bring those with you. But when I lock them up in this case, I'll keep the key with me, instead of dropping it with the guard, would that be alright? If you get the body guard duty, you can come back here right away and I'll get them out for you. I promise. I know what it is to loose a sword." I looked at him hard. I wanted him to understand what I was. I was not a young girl. I was a man, through and through. I had killed many times and felt nothing. I lived and died by my swords. I had been raised a male, and I lived like one. I was his counterpart.
He said nothing, but he gave up his swords, watching carefully as I placed them in the chest, turned the key in the lock, and pocketed it.
"There, see?" I said cheerfully, patting the top of the chest, "Safe as anything." Still wearing my smile, I stood and opened a door in the right hand wall of my station. "Come on, it's bath time! Ready to get really clean?"
The bath had already been run, and it was at the perfect temperature. Not scalding, but steaming hot all the same. I turned in front of the bath to face him. Steam rose up behind and around me.
"Ok, here's the deal. I'm supposed to give you a bath. A good, specifically designed bath meant to scrub clean any nook and cranny. But, that wouldn't be at all dignified. I don't wanna do it, and you don't wanna do it. So I'm gonna leave you in here with all the soaps and shampoos and things, and you're gonna wash yourself, ok?"
"I thought you said you were a body guard." He said thoughtfully, "And I saw your swords in that other room, leaning against the wall; jet black katanas." I looked at my feet and leaned against the bath tub stairs.
"Well, I was. Then I stole from Toyo, got my ass beat, and this great new job. It's only for a few weeks though, then I'm back to 'Captain of the Squad'. I just gotta wait it out until then." I glanced up at him and handed him his towels. I climbed a few of the bath tub steps and slid open a cabinet in the wall. Bottles and vials and little squares of soap lined the shelves and I pointed at the ones he was going to have to use. I gave him instructions about the hair wash, and the conditioning lather, and told him how many soaps to use in which places. After I was satisfied that he wouldn't kill himself while attempting to bathe, I slipped out the door again and wished him good luck.
I'd only been out of the bathing chamber for five minutes when Tomi walked by, stopping to look at me.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be cleansing that man in blue?" He asked suspiciously.
"Yes sir, I am, I just came out here to get something. I'm going back in now." And with that, I ducked back into the small wooden chamber, squeezing my eyes shut just in case. Soon enough, I said quietly, "Are you decent?"
"Yes. There is no need to hide your eyes." He said. I peeked open and all I could see were the rest of his clothes in a neat pile on the floor, and his upper body. I sighed in relief and went to sit in the corner where nothing but the overbearing side of the tub could be seen.
"Sorry about that, Tomi just walked by and started getting on my ass about washing you. Sometimes it drives me nuts being here. Things just don't make sense." I sighed again. The air was making me light headed.
"Why do you not leave, then?" Came the soft question from behind walls of steam.
"Well, where would I go? What would I do? Find another body guard gig?" I laughed in a mean, cynical sort of way. "Yea, right." Neither of us said anything for a long time. After a while, I picked up his clothes and locked them up in the chest.
"Excuse me, I would have asked earlier, but it didn't occur to me before." He asked.
"What is it?"
"What will I be wearing when I go before Toyo?" I saw the deep worry ingrained on his face, and I realized that he must fear having to go before the boss naked. I almost laughed, it was all so silly.
"We have regulated clothes. We'll give them to you, or rather, I will." I opened another cabinet in the wall where piles of clothes were stacked according to size. I grabbed larges in everything and left them on a shelf near him. "Here, put these on, but leave the shirt off for now. Meet me in the next room."
After that, I combed out his hair, and dried it as best I could, and sent him out to wait. He was wearing the strangest clothes that I was sure he'd ever seen: Low slung, tight pants that ended mid-calf, and a baggy, open front white shirt. No shoes. Of course, his friends would be wearing the same thing, just in their own sizes. The only difference would be that the girl would have a small ,white shirt, bordering on skimpy.
After that, I went back to my Entrance Duty, resigning myself to boredom for an undesignated amount of time. I sat there for a good hour before anything else crazy happened.
