Humpy: Glad you found them so! And here is 7 for ya =P Also thank you for your first review comment! I am so thankful you find that I am doing well writing from Nobu's point of view. And I agree, I love the Chairman (especially when imagining him as Ken Watanabe hah), but there's just so much more to Nobu that the Chairman does not have!
SSLE: Indeed it does..-evil laugh- It may be, it may not be…I'm so devious sometimes!
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And I have not gotten any sleep tonight.
It is near dawn now and I have been awake since I returned from the teahouse. The ghost of her hand holding mine lingers yet.
The Chairman was right- since when am I so sentimental? Not until her. Although I would not consider being escorted to sumo by a young geisha particularly sentimental at all.
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"Watch him closely, Sayuri. He is about to perform a move called okurinage." I whisper. The crowd is a dull roar to me; it feels as if the only ones in the stadium are myself and Sayuri.
But of course that is a ludicrous notion.
"I would call you a fortune-teller for guessing he make such a move, Nobu-san, but that would be impossible for a man as pragmatic as yourself!" Is she teasing me? I snort in response.
"Nothing of the sort. I can tell by the way he circles his opponent from behind." Just as I expected, Terukuni Mano grabs his opponent from behind, throwing him to the left and down towards the ground of the ring. I am on my feet within an instant.
"You see, girl?" I cry happily. "I never lie about sumo, do I? And he only just made his debut!" The crowd is going absolutely wild for him, such a surprising win it is.
She smiles and tips her head to the side as I sit back down. "No, Nobu-san. I do not think of you as a man capable of lying." Her leg has brushed up against mine- accidently I am sure. I move farther away, angry that she try to touch me at all.
She attempts to compensate by pouring a cup of sake and placing it in my hand. Our fingers do not touch at all. I clear my throat. There is a short break and I am able to talk freely to her.
"So, Sayuri, tell me what was so important that you felt the need to accompany to sumo. I thought you had no interest in it, the way you acted upon our first meeting."
A blush clearly works her way up on her face. "Oh Nobu-san, I cannot possibly…it would be too forward of me!"
The sake slams on the board in front of us and splashes out of the cup. "Get on with it now! You are becoming too much like Pumpkin, you know that? A skitterish little-"
"I want you to be my danna, Nobu-san."
I look up at her in bewilderment. My hearing must be going already, there is no way she…she could not have…
"The General." I whisper. "You have the General, Sayuri. You have expressed clearly that you do not want me as your danna, if that is what I have just heard you ask."
"Can I not change my mind, Nobu-san? Not everything must be set in stone."
"A geisha does not choose her danna. You know that. I-"
"Then speak with Mameha, or Mother, or whomever you need to!" she sounds desperate and has her hand resting on my arm. The wrong one. Sayuri realizes her mistake too late and pulls it away but the damage is done. I turn away in disgust.
"Sayuri, I have expressed I do not like having things I cannot have in front of me. This is too much."
"Oh Nobu-san, it is not so much to ask! There must still be something inside of you that..that wants this as much as-" she abruptly stops and busies herself in cleaning the spilt sake. I stare at her in silence, not even venturing to complete her sentence in my head. It is too dangerous- I will fool myself into believing that which is not true. I could not bear that.
"You have caused me much pain, Sayuri. What do you want me to say? This is a ploy so you may access the Chairman, is it not?" my voice is surprisingly hoarse.
"No, that is not what I mean!" Sayuri's head twists up to mine, still bent over the mess. Her beautiful eyes are wide, full of...I do not know what. "Not at all, Nobu-san!"
"Then why did you give me his handkerchief?" I grind my teeth together. Do not repeat the last two meetings, Nobu, calm yourself, please...
She refuses to answer that. "That is for another time, Nobu-san, another story. Not now." She sets the little cup neatly upright and kneels at my feet, hands clasped in her lap as if praying. "Nobu-san, you have granted me so much. I have never asked you for pretty jewels, which you have placed in my hands so kindly. Do not think of this as my requesting you. It is an answer to a question you never had the courage to ask."
There is a hush between us. No one in the stadium is paying us any mind, as another match has already begun. Everything blurs to me as I tilt her chin upwards with my finger. I wet my lips. A question you never had the courage to ask...How did she know? What do I say? Not here, of all places, at sumo! At a teahouse, or over the little stream in the town on the bridge, but not here, with all these people who will recognize me. One of them will surely go running back to the General or to Mameha. And we will both be doomed.
But how badly I want to say yes, to hold her and care for her...
Then I make the mistake of glancing up. And who would be here, at this very match, but Hatsumomo, risen from the dead?