Efflorescence
Chapter Ten: Duty
by Autumn Win-Dow
(AoGA House Cup. Words: 500)
In the end, he was never able to question his father about the maiko who seemed to know him.
And because of his annoyance at himself, he went back to the ochaya.
He was determined to find out what their connection was, one way or another, but in the end, he himself didn't know why he wanted to find out.
Perhaps it was his natural instinct to know everything about and around him.
For Natsume, it was a safe guess.
He unceremoniously drank the scalding tea in one shot. He could feel the burn in his throat, and was sure that he would later regret the action.
Never was he one who liked to 'savour the moment' but this moment was to be anything but savoured.
A part of him considered himself a masochist.
Kurike, of whom was seated in front of him with a puzzled expression, finally started to talk to him as he set his cup down. "Is something wrong?"
He reminded her with a glance that it was her cue to fill up his cup, and she begrudgingly did so, but still watched her customer with more than a blind eye.
Natsume took hold of the cup as soon as she pulled the teapot back, and replied before gulping down the tea once again.
"Just thirsty."
Kurike couldn't prevent herself from scoffing at his reply - and she was thankful for her onee-san's lack of presence in the room, which she assumed was because bribe by the very man sitting in front of her.
"Mr Hyūga, you're drinking that tea like soju!" She worriedly pointed out - even though she wasn't too fond of him, Kurike wasn't mean enough to feel happy because of his pain. "You have to stop."
Natsume paused mid-gulp, and then lowered his hand to give her a questioning look.
"...Are you telling your customer what to do?"
Kurike opened her mouth to refute, but she fell silent when she realised that she had indeed ordered him.
A part of her wanted to take back her statement and apologise, for the sake of her progression as a maiko.
However, her devilish side wanted to defend her pride from this equally prideful man, and remain solid despite the pre-determined customer-geisha relationship.
Natsume watched in hidden surprise as she pondered over her answer. He had expected to immediately turn submissive and apologise, but he didn't expect her to take that long. The stinging in his throated numbed in comparison to the situation, in which all he could feel was the tense atmosphere.
Kurike gripped the handle of the teapot, and she firmly but gently took the teacup out of his lax hand.
In the end, her devilish side won.
"I am telling you what to do."
As their eyes met - her determined ones with his shocked ones - she added a clarification.
"I'm telling you exactly what to do, Natsume Hyuuga. A geisha's duty is to entertain her customer, not let him sink into misery."
A/N: I apologise for the delay.