Of Silk And Lace
cap'n coree
Chapter Two: The Fine Art Of Making It Out Alive
"Oooooooh, look at that!" Mame cheered, pointing in one of the shop windows, "And that! OHHHH And That." Fuu sighed while Mame clutched her arm and pulled her from shop to shop, unaware of the burly man following three feet away. Oh, to be that blissfully ignorant. To believe on is free to do what one wants. "OOH I love Kyoto!"
"Thats right, you weren't raised here, were you?" Fuu said idly, knowing all the while that Mame was a country girl. Fuu found that, although most girls didn't like to talk about the past, Mame loved it.
"No, I was raised on a small farm." She said, staring in awe at a beautiful kimono spread over a table. Fuu knew the whole story already. Her mother died when she was young. She was the oldest of five children. She had a sheep she called Baabaa and one day it had run away. "Were you?"
"Hnn?"
"Were you raised in Kyoto? I don't know very much about you, Kiyo. Not even where you were born. How'd you come to be here?"
"Oh, no. I wasn't raised in Kyoto." Fuu said, evading any other questions.
"Then you must find it as amazing as I do!" Fuu shrugged, finding it hard to look at this place as "amazing" when she was living here as a whore. It cast Kyoto in a certian shifty light for Fuu.
Fuu scanned the horizon for one bit of Kyoto that might not be tainted, and suddenly it caught her eye. It was foreign, something from outside Kyoto, and therefore, outside Kiyo's memory, but familiar, something Fuu knew all to well. She had, after all, spent a good deal of time staring at it. It was a head. Complete with a face, a mass of hair tied tightly back into a high pony tail, and a set of glasses. It was making its way through the crowd effortlessly, as if advancement was all that mattered, and its eyes were locked on Fuu.
"Kiyo, what's wrong?" Mame said, waving a hand in front of her face. Fuu spun on her heel, and pointed in the opposite direction.
"Look! OVER THERE! Isn't that a cute store?"
"OHWOWWHERE!" Mame shouted, dragging Fuu down the street towards the imaginary store. Thankfully, in a fit of shopping passion, Mame was faster than any other creature on earth. Fuu frowned, glancing over her shoulder to see if she had lost him, her insides churning with fear. She should have been happy to see him. Hopeful.Excited She could even leave if she wanted, run off into the wild blue with Jin. Surely he wouldn't leave her- but then again he must be on his way to find her. But no, she didn't matter anymore, not to Kiyo, who had never known her, nor the man she enticed, much to the jealousy of a pouty 15 year old girl. No, Kiyo was a woman, a woman with no time to care about some ronin she saw in the streets.. She knew this man as nothing more then another possiable john.
Jin couldn't understand it. He had seen her. She had changed, but it had surely been her, and she had seen him. Then where did she go? How did she just vanish? Why was he searching every inch of the town for her, if obviously she didn't want to be found? But it couldn't be that. No, Fuu would not hide from him. Maybe she had to be somewhere. Maybe she hadn't seen him. Maybe she was kidnapped! Yes! That was probably it. Fuu had been kidnapped, once again. Old habits do die hard.
But she didn't look like the Fuu that Jin had known. Oh, she did, but at the same time, she didn't. Fuu was always a little girl in Jin's eyes. Scrawny, shapeless, and full of pep and dreams. But this Fuu, this Fuu was a woman, and Jin should have expected such. It had been three years after all. He had never expected she'd grow up to look like this, though. She was nothing short of beautiful. Her hair wasn't much longer, but she wore it down, and she was wearing makeup. She was leaner, and she wore a tight, black kimono with red stiching, and a red obi tied in a large bow in the front. Her breasts were much fuller, and she looked taller, but Jin wasn't sure if she had really grown, or if it merely seemed so because she was proportioned better.
The thought of Fuu growing up pained Jin. In his mind she was always that innocent little girl so filled with pride and fury. She had brought meaning, if only for a short time, into Jin's life. Now, all he did was wait patiently for the day he could collect Shino and try to regain some of the meaning he had lost when he had parted ways with his companions at the crossroads.
Jin scanned the streets as he walked on, aimless. A pouch full of money jingled-and-jangled a merry tune inside his robes as he walked, but he felt no need to search for an inn, or locate food, although his stomach complained with each step of the way. No, he had but one goal, to find the magical, disappearing Fuu. Each teahouse he entered he stopped only long enough to describe her, and see if anyone knew where he could find her. Afterwards, he left. No one recalled the name Fuu, and no matter how tasty the food smelled, he always left to find the next place he thought Fuu might frequent. Finally, close to giving up, he wandered into a shabby gambling establishment. Maybe Fuu had become a dice thrower. She talked about it, not often, but he had seen her once, and she had seemed pretty into it.
"Hello." Jin said, approaching a man at the table, his hand full of cards. "I was wondering if you could help me out.."
"Hrmph..." the old man grunted. Jin ignored him and continued.
"Have you seen a girl around her, chesnut hair, hazel eyes, around 18 to 19? She was wearing a black kimono earlier- she's very pretty," Jin forced out, "Her name is-"
"Kiyo." The old man grunted, "Just about the best damn brothel girl in this city, but she don't work somewhere trashy like this. Nah, yer got teh head yerself to the large building, bout six houses down. Ye'll know it when yeh see it, like a god damn palace it is. Never had the money to go there meself, and certianly never had teh cash for someone as fancy as that Kiyo, but it don't hurt teh look."
"Hm, the girl I'm looking for isn't from a brothel-"
"Well then, ain't noone like that in this town, er atleast noone I've met." Jin sighed, and left the gambling house. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to check out this brothel. Fuu could have gotten herself kidnapped but-
'best damn brothel girl..'
It couldn't be, could it? Jin wouldn't let it be! But his heart was aching. He had to confirm that this was not the truth- that innocent little Fuu was still-
She stood up-road, her eyes locking with his own. Her eyelids were caked with red paint, as were her lips. Her face was painted white, like an attractive corpse, and her cheeks painted with a mellow blush. Her kimono was tied loosely together with a red obi, causing it to bunch at the hips, and expose some of her now-full breasts-
Innocent little Fuu...
Not that Kiko or Kiyo girl the man had mentioned.
It just couldn't be...
He was approaching the 'establishment' the man had described earlier. Outside torches were lit on either side of a set of cages, and a men were gathering around them in the road. Several were cat calling, and larger men were patrolling the area to make sure none of them got anything they didn't pay for.
It was huge. The building itself looked like an old hotel- or perhaps, as the old man had said, a small palace. It was elegant, and except for the wooden cages outfront, one would never guess it was a whore house. Some of the cages held several girls, all of them pouting and posing for men, hoping to entice them into giving up a few of their coins. Jin scanned them, searching for a girl he prayed wasn't there. When he finally came to the last cages, the ones obviously intended for the picks of the litter, as they were lined with satin. and had several torches illuminating their occupants, he stopped, his heart falling. In the last cage, lit brightly by the torches surrounding it, she stood.
She looked enthereal, the torches, coupled with the makeup and fancy ornaments adorning her hair, clothes, and ears, changed her. She didn't look like a normal woman. She was by multitudes more beautiful, more astounding. She was turning slowly, glancing over her shoulder at the crowd of men gathering around her cage, whooting and hollaring. Her kimono was dropped suggestively over one shoulder, revealing creamy skin, and her eyes fixed on each face in the crowd, gauging their desire. Her hair was tied into a loose bun on top of her head, held in place by thin, elegantly desinged sticks, small charms dangling off the ends, swaying with her every move.
She was beautiful. So beautiful it made Jin sick. It made him sick to stand there eyeing her, while she spun like a peice of meat before the leering eyes of the crowd. It made him sick that he wanted to touch her so badly, afraid that she was some devilish illusion sent to twist the minds of men. This could not be Fuu. This couldn't be the adorable, naive girl he once knew. This woman... This thing... It just couldn't be-
"So I see you like our little Kiyo?" a wheezing voice said, and Jin looked over, dismayed.
"Kiyo?"
"Oh, yes, she is quite beautiful, isn't she? You must be from out of town, almost everyone knows our little blossom." The elderly lady by his side gave a wheezing laugh, "Only most can't afford her company. But you look like a good man, and I might be able to cut you a deal.."
Jin pulled out a pouch of money, counting its contents before giving her the total of how much he was willing to part with.
"Well, I suppose so. I like you. It isn't often enough Kiyo gets to spend time with men her own age, or ones so close to her in beauty." She wheezed a laugh, "Trouble is, only rich old merchants can afford this kind of quallity." Jin's stomach did flips as he imagined the grizzly scene that was painting itself in his mind. Fuu, his Fuu, with old men- doing who knows what- only he knew all too well. She accepted his money and grinned her toothless grin at him.
"With an extra ten or twenty or so, I could send up dinner for the two of you."
"Yes, that would be pleasant." he replied, handing over more of his hard-earned money. The woman clapped her hands together, overjoyed, and turned to Fuu.
"Kiyo, you have a customer!" Fuu turned her head to look at the elderly woman, then her eyes darted to meet..
"Fuck." Fuu gasped, a hand darting up to cover her rose-bud mouth. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. He had found her. He knew. She swallowed her pride, and stepped slowly out of the cage as Mother opened the door.
"Follow me, sir." Fuu said, bowing stiffly, not daring to look him in the eye. 'Dammitfuckshitcunt!' Fuu's mind continued cussing as she led Jin up the carefully carved steps, feeling his eyes on her at all times during the climb. She slid the door to her room and entered it, bowing once more without making eye contact, and inviting him in. She took a seat on the floor across from him and looked at her hands, embaressed to move.
"Good evening, sir, I am Kiyo and I will be your-"
"Fuu." The name escaped his lips so easily, and caused ripples of pain to erupt through her body.
"My name is Kiyo-"
"Fuu," Jin said, seizing her by the shoulders, "Fuu, Fuu. It's me- It's Jin."
Fuu bit her bottom lip, her throat tightening around the words she forced, "I'm sorry, sir, you must have me confused for some other girl-"
"Look at me." he demanded, and she abided, raising her face to stare into his own, working hard to contain herself. He placed a hand on her face and rubbed off some of the makeup caking itself on her skin like a mask. He stared at his thumb, and then the naked patch on Fuu's face. "I know you." he whispered, his face inches from hers to inspect the thumbprint. "You can't hide behind this."
"I- I.." Fuu stammered, her tongue pivoting, searching for words she couldn't find. She broke down, unsure of what to do, and reverted to crying- something she hadn't done in years. She hadn't cried since she bacame Kiyo- except for one night when Mame had come back brutally beaten from one of the "bad" men they had discussed on her first night. However, using her substantial connection with Mother and the bodyguards of the house, that man was never allowed in their whorehouse again..
She cried. She cried because she hadn't heard her name in so long . She cried because she had nearly forgotten it. She cried because she wasn't who she had been, and seeing him just made it even more evident than ever. She cried because Mother wanted her to take up the flesh trade. She cried beacause Mame was too young to know she had been wronged. She cried because Fuu had wronged herself. She cried because she had loved him, although after three years in the brothel she didn't believe in love, only sex. She cried because she couldn't do anything else.
He held her. He held her against him as she shook in her hysterics. She wept into his robe until she had no tears left to cry, then she gathered herself up, and sat across from him again, most of her makeup washed off- now staining his robe with white-red-and-black.
"What did you come here for?" she asked quietly, averting her eyes once more.
"To find you."
"Why?"
"To get you out." he replied, thinking that it was all to obvious. He waited patiently for her to sigh happily and throw herself in his arms. To thank him, to shower him with that all too embarassing, but so badly needed affection she had always given him. He waited. He watched her. She made no move to leave.
"I can't." she said simply, throwing her head back.
"What?" Jin replied, his heart skipping a beat.
"I can't. Theres no place else for me to be."
"There is," Jin insisted, searching her eyes for what little Fuu might be inside them. "You could come with me-"
"And be a third wheel as you went off with that other woman?" Fuu shot, causing Jin to flinch inside.
"Fuu-"
"I'm sorry, Jin, but this is the only way I can take care of myself. I was starving in the streets before I came here."
"But can you really live this life? It isn't honorable."
"Few of us can afford to be as honorable as you." Fuu said, smiling grimly. "And even if I left now, I'd never have my honor back. I've been here for nearly three years, Jin. Nearly three years." Each word was laced with venom, and Jin got the feeling that part of her blamed him for her present condition. Maybe he was to blame. He should have never watched her walk away-
"I'm sorry, Fuu."
"Fuu is dead." she replied, dully, the malice gone from her voice. "My name is Kiyo." Jin looked up at her sadly, and rose to his feet. His throat was caving in on itself.
"Fuu- I could take care of you. Shino could...she could do without me. Come withe me, Fuu. Lets leave together." he choked, "Let me make it up to you."
"I-" There was a small knock at the door, and Fuu walked over to slide the door open. A small girl, no more then fifteen years old knelt with two trays of food.
"Mame, thank you dearheart." Fuu cooed, taking the food. "Please, thank the cooks for me."
"I-I made it." Mame stammered, blushing furiously.
"Well, then thank you, Mame, it looks delicous." The smell wafted over to Jin as Fuu closed the door. It did smell delicous- and for a moment his thoughts were diverted elsewhere.
"Come, sir, lets eat together?" she said politley, falling back into her nightly routine. They knelt across from one another and ate in silience. Fuu urged him to try the sake, boasting it was the best in the town- and he did, hoping it would grease his throat so he might talk easier.
When the food was finished they had no reason to avoid one anothers eyes.
"I am doing well here, Jin. Kiyo is doing well. It may have killed me- but it has also made me. You don't understand.."
"Hn.." Jin said, looking away. "All I know is you've changed. You're no longer my Fuu." Fuu smilled sadly, and crawled across the floor to kneel in front of him.
"But tonight I am yours-" she said carefully,"If only for tonight." She placed a hand on his arm, and pushed him gently to the floor, climbing on top of him. Jin's stomach lurched, disgusted, yet aroused by the bold move Fuu was making. He should have expected it, it is her job.
'best damn brothel girl..'
'best'
'Fuu...'
She worked her tongue against his neck, gently purring and nipping here or there and Jin's eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sake and her embrace envelope him. He sighed, feeling her now lush body brush against him-
"Shino-"
Suddenly the contact stopped, and Fuu was standing up, backing away. Jin sat, looking at her, confused.
"Fuu-"
"SHUT UP." she hollared, covering her ears. "Just leave me the fuck alone!" She clenched her eyes shut and stomped her feet. Finally-she was looking like Fuu again, but Jin wasn't sure he liked it.
"What did I-"
"Just leave Jin! Get out of my life and let me forget you. Let me forget Mugen. Let me forget Shino. Let me forget Fuu!" She cried vicously, still covering her ears.
Jin stood, stepping towards the door. "I know... I know you don't want to leave, but.." he paused, "I'm going to be in town for awhile, I'll be taking on a job," he lied, "if only for a few days before I leave to-"
"Ah," Fuu laughed bitterly, glaring at him. "Your tragic little love story. Well don't let me get in your way. Go right ahead."
"Fuu-"
"Leave."
Jin heaved a sigh and left, his feet dragging as he made his way down the hall.
"Hey, you, young man." a voice wheezed and he turned to see the haggard old woman from before. "I'm going to be announcing my new apprentice soon.. and I think there's going to be some trouble.." She wheezed once more, then held out a sack of money, "You look strong, and able bodied.. How 'bout yeh take on a job protecting one of my girls.."
What a perfect way to keep an eye on Fuu..
"Who is it?"
"Oh I think you know her well enough.."
What a perfect way to keep an eye on Fuu.
Fuu paced, she wanted to punch the thin screen walls that surronded her. She wanted to scream and cuss. She wanted to drag her nails across that painfully smooth skin of his. She should go find him. She should go give him a piece of her mind-
She slid open the door, when suddenly she was tackled-
"Mame-" the smaller girl ws sobbing into Fuu's kimono. "Mame, did another bad man.."
"No," Mame sobbed, "I heard everything- KIYO how can you think of running away? Mother's going to make you head of house and things will get better- please, Kiyo, don't be an idiot. Pleaassse Kiyo." She sobbed harder, closing her arms tighter around Fuu's waist. "Please, Kiyo.. Don't leave me."
"Don't worry." Fuu said, smiling affectionately, "I'm not going to leave you." Mame looked at her, confused. "I turned him down."
"You idiot," Mame oozed into her kimono, still crying. "You could have escaped." Fuu placed a hand on Mame's head.
"I'm never leaving you, little one."