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DECAY HEAT CHAPTER 7 : LISTENING

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If he's betrayed me once, he can do it again. My face was as cold as stone. Nobody's home.

"My neck hurts," I said mechanically. "You're too short."

"Kisama-"

I gasped when I felt something slither off my waist and tattered cloth swoosh to my feet. Takasugi had taken the sash from my old underrobe, bundled his yukata around me and tugged the knot so tightly it squeezed the air out of my lungs. Then he stepped back and smirked at his handiwork, a finger under his chin. Faint creaks approached on the gangway, we both looked up. There was a discreet knock and Bansai politely whispered from behind the shoji.

"Forgive me for interrupting, Shinsuke-sama. We are 20 minutes away from Kyoto. "

"Good. And our men?"

"Everything is going according to plan." His footsteps faded away.

"Oooh…" Takasugi smiled. "It seems like we ran out of time. I hate doing things half-assed. But half-assed is better than no-ass, don't you agree? Kukuku~ "

"I'm going home."

"Where's your home, Zura?"

"Edo."

As I said the name of my beloved city, I felt my emotions return. "My home, I love it and I will protect it with all my heart." A samurai can only serve one master. That's why I can't love Takasugi. I am but a simple and stubborn man but knowing that just makes me feel all the better. To my surprise, Takasugi's smile was amused, but also openly admiring. He walked over to his shamisen, picked it up and sat down.

"Your attitude reminds me of a cute little maiko forced to leave her fishing village to become a geisha in Kyoto. Dragged away kicking and screaming, and sometimes…worse. How nostalgic." He strummed the shamisen lovingly. "You'd like the next place we're headed to. A teahouse in Gion called the "Ministry of Sound." A 500 people venue set up by the Amanto. There's a festival tonight and the party is still happening in full swing. Of course, you're the guest of honor."

"So is this how you recruit your goons?" I asked sarcastically. "There's a party at the Kiheitai, and everyone's invited. Please! Count me out."

"Awww…but if I couldn't fight with you…then I couldn't fall in love with you…"

"Don't say that."

"Relax, Zura. I have our date all planned out."

"So how many people does the Black Beast intend to kill on our "date"?" I interjected bluntly, folding my arms.

"One." Takasugi, raised his chin and tilted his head, eye crinkling. "His name is Katsura Kotaro."

"Stop teasing! I know you too well, you'll never emerge in daylight except to create a bloodbath. A big one. Your men from the Kiheitai aren't even samurai, they are no better than criminals with two swords. Ugh! You know what I'll tell you what. Kyoto is not my territory but if plan to harm even a single innocent person, forgive me, I must interfere!"

"Are you innocent, Zura?" Takasugi smoothly changed the subject.

"… H-Huh?"

"Let me make a prediction. You'd do anything to protect your pride, won't you? But at daybreak, you, from your own...sweet lips, you'd scream for me to take you deep inside…"

"…?!"

My heart gave a violent thump and eyes went bloodshot. I slid the shoji door wide open with a loud clack, letting in a blast of wet, salty wind which immediately blew out the candle. I stared furiously at the roaring waves, repelling my eyes like a murky wall of darkness. Then I saw a tiny golden halo in the distance, nestled between black undulating shapes of the Chosu mountains. A large concentration of light flickered outwards from the main party strip of Gion.

It really is Kyoto.

"Are you hungry, Zura?" Takasugi's deep, velvety voice sounded very calm. He was still sitting at the same place.

"…No." I was a astonished, considering the last meal I ate was more than 12 hours ago.

"Are you thirsty?"

"No." Strangely, my body felt as light as air.

"Good, we won't have time to rest once we get ashore. But for now..." He strummed casually on the shamisen, then said in mock exasperation.

-

"I want to talk to him, but he won't listen to me.

Help me think of something,

shamisen string."

-

Eh, those lyrics sounded vaguely familiar. Takasugi began strumming his shamisen lovingly... I recognized it now, he was playing a well-known geisha samisen piece, although the lyrics had been altered somewhat. I shut the shoji, sat down and steepled my fingers in front of my nose. Takasugi paused and recited the next phrase skillfully. And rather playfully.

-

"In the morning I hid his kimono,

Your kimono is playing hide and seek~~~"

-

B-B-BLEHHHH! It's "Do not Go." I trembled, loathing the touch of his silken yukata that still carried his scent.

-

"A storm is coming,

See how underneath the twisting clouds

Swallows soar and sport?"

-

Yeah right. Go "fly" on your own kite! The lyrics were embarrassingly suggestive if you read between the lines, but two can play this game. A geisha's game it's true, but I knew all the songs from my job as okama. But where could Takasugi have learnt all this? Come think of it doesn't he have some kind of "reputation" at the teahouses?This man...Is he promiscuous? I avoided the related sensations that flooded my body.

After a beat, I replied-

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Katsura:

A suffocating wind strips the red leaves off the Katsura tree

I walk to my doorstep,

Dew drips everywhere.

-

Heart on the defense, green chrysanthemum buds

Their sharp scent is disturbs my heart

And their green color.

-

A green petal floating on my cup of yellow sake

Doesn't make it golden.

-

Takasugi:

A butterfly tied by a red string,

Soaks up the bright sun.

At nightfall golden powder scatters from his wings,

Dark stars,

A starry snow of darkness.

-

The shining butterfly lands on a flower,

Their shadow lies inseparable on the white snow.

No words are said.

But the scent that the flower cannot hold,

Goes up to the butterfly

Who sees the innocent whiteness of the flower

Stained by his deep color.

-

Katsura:

It started with the Harusame,

One rainy night.

The smell of his body lingers in the air.

The clouds get darker

And my eyes are stormy.

Are we a pairing made of flower and butterfly?

Or enemies from the Joi and Kiheitai?

-

Takasugi:

My work is black,

I never show myself.

But I am excited about you,

You ask me to meet you on the open road, the high road.

But things are hidden in a black night.

Even the dream is black

On our pillow of black hair

Even our talk is hidden.

-

Katsura:

I wish to keep him, but he goes his own way

I call him back, but his blood calls louder.

The black beast emerges, he breaks everything

And sets them on fire.

He is leaving me, a world full of ash.

-

Takasugi:

One small spark is enough, more than,

To keep the beast satisfied.

I see him run through the snowstorm towards him

A big present in his jaws, white snow melts on his black fur.

And, on windy winter nights

When safe houses are few and far between

I need my little flaming lantern made of white paper.

My little red lantern

I couldn't do without it

Isn't that so, Zura?

I couldn't do without it?

-

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To be continued...

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A/N: I found a book called "Songs of the Geisha" ( /Gaysha :P ) the other day and I really liked them. I picked some for here, same form, half the words are new. Thanks cclemon for Zura's first comeback and for her wonderful fanart!

http://img25. imageshack. us/img25/6659/tk7. jpg OR http://www. gintamaworld. com/read. php?tid=10032