Fate
Two winding roads unfurled before Kiku. He had to choose which one. Like picking up ribbons, he tried to determine the smoothness, the durability, and most of all why he had to make such a choice. In the filmy dream world he had fabricated, lying on the hard bamboo, he tried to determine whether the withered, rocky path or the frozen tundra.
Neither appeared like a good choice.
When he awoke the feeling of helplessness lingered. He slowly stood up, rubbing his aching muscles and collecting his clothing. He dressed slowly, allowing a servant girl to go through his hair and to adjust his robes. She worked quietly, her pointed chin bowed.
Kiku wondered why so few people bothered to look at him. He wasn't very tall to begin with… Did he really possess so much power?
"Bring me breakfast in here." Kiku ordered, "I want to watch the sunrise from my room."
The servant quickly rushed away. Kiku went to the windows in his room and sat before them. He watched the crimson light seep through the horizon. It spilled on to mountains and the grass and the lakes. Kiku had a strange feeling this sense of openness couldn't last.
She returned with broth and tea. Kiku was not allowed to eat very much in the mornings, by his own discipline. He sipped quietly, dismissing the girl.
. . .
"Come with me."
"Where do you want me to go?" Kiku asked quietly.
Miho stared at him, her eyes bright in the pale moonlight. Kiku rarely considering anything utterly lacking in beauty, but next to Miho's natural kindness, everything else seemed to fade. She was a young geisha, training to become the Mistress of her house. Her older sister, Noriko, was not with her. This should have warned Kiku.
"There's a strange man in front of our building. We need you to protect us." Miho whispered, dragging him along the path. She stumbled in her high shoes. Kiku worried her ankles might snap like dry twigs.
Kiku paused slightly, allowing Miho to pull his arm forwards. She turned, her lips pursed fearfully.
"What if he is a customer?" Kiku asked.
She shook her head. "He has a strange blade attacked to his wrist."
"A hidden knife?" Kiku asked. "Why would he want to be so secretive?"
"I don't know! This is why I want you to come with me." She exasperated, tugging once more.
Kiku reluctantly followed, keeping a grip on his blade. They trundled through the darkness which fell like a thin web of lies across the slanted roofs, an illusion of sunlight. Miho led him to the okiya. It stood proudly before him, flaunting the riches within. One of the windows showed a woman walking past, a stick of incense in her hands.
"Where is he?" Kiku asked.
"There." She said, pointing.
In front of the building a wisp of a man stood. He wore a red uniform. He had no intentions of hiding. Kiku searched him for the hidden weapon Miho had told him about. He caught a spark of moonlight along his wrist, causing him to shimmer. The nature of the blade was still hidden. Kiku approached the man, his back straight as a pole.
There was no need to attack. The man seemed intelligent enough, his phoenix eyes hinting a quiet cunningness. Perhaps he would listen to reason if Kiku asked him politely what he was doing in front of the innocent okiya and if he would kindly leave.
Kiku turned to Miho, but found she had already vanished. He caught sight of her kimono flashing next to the house. She had probably gone to tell the other geisha that a nearby samurai in training had arrived to mend the issue.
As he approached a smaller figure approached the stranger. She said something in a dialect of Chinese. The man turned to look at Kiku, his expression remaining static. The girl nodded something and stepped away. Her eyes met with Kiku and he recognized her as the messenger girl from before.
"I must ask you to leave the okiya unless you have a good reason for annoying the geisha here." Kiku said boldly.
The man stared at him, raising his chin. "I do have a good reason. Are you going to fight me to leave?"
"No, I simply ask to know your reasons for tantalizing the women here. If you want a night with them, go in and court. If not then there are plentiful brothels in the village nearby and some here."
"You assume I want to go as base as your men?" The man challenged. He scoffed, "I have no interest in your women."
Kiku stepped closer. Now in the deep gold of the lanterns he could distinguish the stranger's face better. He saw a look of honesty there and very little malice. Had he been ordered to stand out here like a lustful vagabond?
"Then," Kiku sighed, "I must ask you to leave. Many of these women are my friends."
"I have no interest in fucking them." The stranger spat.
"Xiao…" the messenger girl mumbled.
"I apologize for my vulgarity. But you might want to leave anyway."
The girl nodded and scampered off behind a tree. She stood there, refusing to go any further. She obeyed his orders while at the same time dismissing them. Kiku almost praised her wit. He didn't have time, however, because the man Xiao lunged at him.
Luckily, Kiku's reflexes were quick enough to deflect the flying daggers hidden in Xiao's wrist. Kiku dodged as Xiao, stumbling at the block, began to swing at him. Kiku shot his arm up, blocking the blow easily. He bent down, swinging his katana at the opening in the man's chest. He didn't want to kill him, only wound him.
Kiku's mind went blank as he fought. Xiao was an able fighter, dodging blows and even cuffing Kiku's ear hard enough to draw blood. But Kiku was better. He managed to slice Xiao's thigh. Blood splattered along the stones below.
Xiao yelped in pain. He kicked Kiku's feet from under him and Kiku toppled to the stones. His katana skidded away, its hard metal preventing it from shattering. In the okiya, several high pitched screams broke through the night. A clamor rose amid the villagers, all of them rushing towards him. The samurai, those who trained Kiku and set place in the village by the government, began to appear down the path.
Kiku managed to ignore them as Xiao kicked him in the groin. Kiku stumbled back, hardly feeling any pain due to the insane adrenaline, and swinging hard at Xiao with the back of his fist. Xiao took it to the jaw. His head snapped to the side. He fell to the ground and covered his head as men appeared from the village.
Heavy arms grabbed Kiku's shoulders, ripping him away from the fight. Kiku wiped his bleeding lip, only smearing more crimson across his face from the wounds on his fist. His lower stomach throbbed, but he didn't crumple to the ground.
"What is the meaning of this?" A voice bellowed.
Kiku slumped in the arms of his captures. One grabbed his katana, keeping it away from Kiku.
"I asked what happened." The voice came again, from Kiku's teacher.
Shame flushed through his entire being. Kiku turned his head down. The men let go of him and he stood before Xiao who cowed before the men. Kiku wrongly assumed it was the sheer onslaught of samurai that terrified him.
"He stood before the okiya and refused to leave, teacher, and then he attacked me." Kiku said.
"You nearly killed him." His teacher said gruffly.
The messenger girl appeared before them, weeping. Kiku stared at her in horror. "He—He attacked my brother," she stammered, "Then he started to kill him. My brother was only waiting for his appointment with the girls and then this man attacked him."
"Your brother said he didn't delve into the matters of women." Kiku said. Any kindness he had towards her evaporated. His teacher gave the girl a distrustful glance. She stared at him, her eyes dark with tears.
Xiao rose to his elbows. Blood trickled down his lips. A large bruise swelled along his face, not quite dark yet. "I did not harm the women anyway. Is that reason enough to nearly kill me?" Xiao stated.
Kiku's teacher sighed. "But you are not dead, are you? Or are you weak?"
"No, sir." Xiao said, rising to his feet.
Kiku's heart fell to his knees. He looked around the okiya for Miho, but couldn't find her. She must have been terrified enough to hide. Kiku stood, straightening his back. Xiao shot him a wicked glance.
"And you believed a liar, then? You have far too much trust in strangers." Xiao said, referring to his distaste in lustful misadventures with women.
Kiku didn't believe him, but he did believe that he had too much trust. Kiku denied its status as a bad thing. It couldn't be. Kiku stood firmly in his beliefs. He looked around the group of men. One handed Kiku his katana back, hilt first. Kiku took it, placing it in his sheath.
"Go back home, Honda." The shortest of the men said. "We'll handle this young man."
Kiku thanked him and turned down the path. He began his slow walk home.
. . .
"Did you really think they'd take the word of a snotty little girl over yours?" Kenta asked.
"Children are known to tell the truth," Kiku said simply, sipping his tea. "However, that one is a horrible liar."
Kenta snorted with laughter. "But you still believed it would happen?"
Kiku gave him a look that very poorly hid how he felt.
"Too much trust in you, Kiku. Good men like you don't deserve the cruelty they receive." Kenta shook his head.
Masa was not present that afternoon. He had gone to the doctor due to a shock of pain in his crippled leg. Eiji sat near them, his legs pulled under him in a kneeling position. He held the slim cup of tea. He appeared serene and nervous, as usual.
Kenta turned abruptly to Eiji. "You seem quiet today. Did something happen?"
"No, no!" Eiji said, shaking his head. "I was only in awe at Honda's remarkable fighting."
"You saw?" Kiku asked. He was flattered, but his young friend should not have been anywhere near him.
"I… I was told." Eiji said, turning away.
Kenta raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Were you entertaining a geisha then?"
"No!" Eiji said, his cheeks flushing red. "I'm far too young for that."
"Boys as young as thirteen end up there with their fathers, sometimes." Kiku said.
"No, no, not at all…" Eiji shook his head, still red. "I did hear about it. One of those samurai is that of my father's and I heard him tell of your outstanding skills this morning."
Kiku stopped fighting by the time the other samurai arrived, but he said nothing. If Eiji was going for an elaborate lie with a dash of truth, it must be to cover something he was not prepared to talk about. Kiku trusted him. He turned to Kenta.
"Have you seen Miho or Noriko lately?"
Kenta shook his head, setting his cup down. A servant girl rushed to it and cleaned it up. Kenta smiled at her. She blushed and ducked her head. Kiku wondered if he could ever stop flirting.
"No, in fact, I haven't seen Noriko at all this past week."
"That's strange, isn't it?" Kiku asked, looking up at the cream-colored ceiling. "Usually they are the life of our village. Noriko has more patrons than anyone else in this region, doesn't she?"
Eiji piped up, "She even has some from Kyoto and one from Tokyo."
"So you were with them?" Kenta asked.
"No!" Eiji said forcefully. "I thought both of you knew that."
Kenta, unlike Kiku, kept the possible lie going out of enjoyment rather than trust. "Then does your father take Noriko and that's how you got that information."
"He does take Noriko and is hoping to buy Miho's first time."
At this, Kiku began to feel embarrassed. He turned towards his tea, watching a leaf bob in the amber depths. "To think that Miho is old enough…"
"Don't worry. Eiji's father will be a good patron. Older men tend to be." Kenta said.
"And where did you learn this information?" Eiji said, trying to rebut him.
"I took up Hitomi for a month, once." Kenta said, grinning at the memories. Kiku remembered the soft, pretty girl. Kenta would brag about the softness of her thighs and the genteel way of her singing voice often, much to Kiku and Eiji's embarrassment. However, it was one of the rare occasions when Masa smiled for over a minute.
They fell silent, enjoying the warm sunshine and the small amount of free time they had before classes. Kiku would meet with Wang Yao in five days. He still had time to spare. Whenever he thought of the destined meeting, he began to fill with worry.
Perhaps it was fate's way of insinuating something. Kiku decided he would talk to Noriko about this when he found her.