SSLE: I was in the midst of editing and reviewing this chapter when I got your review..well let's just say I hope your'e satisified with ch. 6 as I work on 7! ;D
And yes this is very short, but do not worry. I was afraid if I continued beyond where I stopped it would take away a bit from the chapter..enjoy!
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Does she know I am alive?
Apparently not, despite the fact I sit next to her plain as the day! I wonder why she even bothered, considering my outburst weeks ago. Mameha, I am sure. It is always Mameha. I can hear her breathe she is so close to me, yet she speaks to everyone else around, even the silly German. But never at the Lizard.
"Oh, Nobu-san, do not look so gruff!" Mameha laughs. "Have you been bitten on the hells on your journey here?"
"Yes, by a rabid dog. It chased us all the way here, I might add." Mr. Schessler winks, brushing crumbs off his stupid mustache. Sayuri smiles at him and claps her hands together.
"Was the dog wearing a kimono?" she had relayed the story earlier, and the man still finds it absolutely hilarious. His laugh explodes in the air, the Chairman and Mameha and the others laughing along. Sayuri glances at me- her grey eyes are piercing despite her grin. They are full of an emotion, a thought that I cannot place. I frown and hope she will turn away from me, stop staring at me so. She does not.
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The rest of the night proved disgustingly uneventful aside from the Sayuri escorted me to the bathroom- a stupid and trivial time to try and hold a conversation. Yet even she attempted to do this!
"Nobu-san, I know you have been unhappy with me as of late." She said in her airy voice, hands folded in front of her as we walked down the long hallway of the teahouse. "And our last two meetings have not been..well, enjoyable." her eyes had flickered toward me, but I had nothing to say of that matter. "If I may be so bold, Nobu-san…permit me to meet you tomorrow morning? I wish to speak with you, as tonight seems to be the wrong place."
I stopped in my tracks and turn to her. "What are you suggesting, Sayuri?" I snapped. She drew in a quick breath. "Meetings with you? Am I a school boy? Are you a little girl? No! You must have consulted your almanac and it said that it would be a good time to meet with an ugly lizard and try to talk to it! First a handkerchief, not a meeting. What is the world coming to?"
"Please, Nobu." She said softly.
"If you have something to say to me, permit yourself to say it now than in a silly tryst! I am sick of chasing you." What a fool I was for saying that!
I clearly saw her swallow and look about her quickly. Her slim, tendril-like fingers were reaching, seemingly to grasp the air, and before I knew what to say she was holding my palm in her warm hands.
"Would it be safe to say, Nobu, that you have a great amount of fire in you, as I have water in myself?" her eyes flickered up towards mine. "Drive and passion is what my mother always told me, you know. Fire, that is. You call us geisha superstitious, but you cannot deny there is some amount of truth in that!"
My hand was trembling so badly that I did not dare take it away from her. From a mere girl! "I would suppose you are correct in that belief. I-really Sayuri, you are much too forward."
"A foolish geisha?" she laughed, running a finger through my palm before abruptly dropping it. "I apologize Nobu. You are right, of course." Sayuri took a step back as if she had suddenly realizing how close she was to me. "I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me."
I nodded. I could still feel the pressure and warmth of her fingers on my hand. "Your hair." it was an excuse, of course, to touch her, to be close to her.
"Of course." Her hair was soft, despite the amount of wax that must have been holding it together. "Thank you, Nobu-san. You are very kind to me."
I could not bear to draw my hand away from her.
I had fallen in love with a geisha, and I was sure that she found this out that night.