by India Millar
“But I thought that Akira was the head of the most feared yakuza gang in Edo. That nobody would dare to stand against him,” I interrupted.
“He was. Still is,” Kiku agreed. “But Akira is head of only one gang. If one of the other gangs opposed him, he would simply cut them down. Destroy them without thinking about it. But this isn’t just one yakuza who is opposing him. It’s the two other largest yakuza, and a few of the smaller ones. Even Akira can’t fight all of them. He has no options. If he chooses to fight, he will lose. If he tries to make peace, then he will lose face and with it his position. Can you see Akira as some other yakuza’s second in command? Of course not. So at the moment, he is doing nothing.”
We both fell silent, thinking about the strange ways of the world.
I frowned. “If Akira falls, what will happen to the Hidden House?”
I had spoken my thoughts aloud, not really expecting an answer. But Kiku had one.
“It—and you geisha—will pass to the victor.”
I thought about that and shuddered. Akira was bad, certainly. But we knew him. Knew what to expect. How would a new lord treat us? Who could tell?
Kiku was nodding, understanding at once.
“I know. It’s the uncertainty of it that’s as bad as anything.” I smiled wryly, and to my surprise Kiku sighed heavily. “You might not believe it, but there are days when I would love to be back with you all in the Hidden House, having a good gossip and sharing the bath together.”
We both fell silent, contemplating our futures. Mine, uncertain. Kiku’s, it appeared, all too certain. Did I still envy her, I wondered? I rather thought not.
“Have you heard any more about Midori No Me?” I asked more to change the subject than because I expected an answer, but I was surprised.
“Oh, yes! I was going to tell you anyway.” Kiku was grinning, good humor restored. “I asked Mori-san to spread the word amongst his gaijin to keep an ear open for her and Danjuro, and they haven’t failed him. She is in America still. The gaijin say that the whole country is fascinated by anything Japanese. I suppose they are like we were with the gaijin, when they first appeared here. Anyway, Danjuro already had a wealthy patron in America and was able to form a kabuki troop very quickly. I understand that times were difficult at first, as the kabuki was so strange to the gaijin who had never been to Japan, they couldn’t understand it at all. But Midori persuaded him to change some of the traditional plays, and it worked. They are quite famous now, or so I hear.”
I was delighted, but I could tell by the smug tone in Kiku’s voice that there was more.
“And?”
“You’ll never guess. Midori No Me is performing in the troop.”
I closed my eyes. Lucky, lucky Midori!
“And it is she who is attracting the most attention, not Danjuro!”
“No!”
“It’s true. The gaijin see nothing odd at all in a woman performing on stage, and they love Midori-chan. Apparently, it is her the patrons queue to see, and not so much Danjuro. Word is that the gaijin are enchanted by her.”
I felt tears smearing my eyes. Truly, the gods had smiled on my friend. Although no one could have deserved it more.
There was at timid tap at the door, and my maid slid her head through. Akane squirmed out of her arms and frisked up to her mistress happily.
“Ah. Time for you to go, Mineko.” She picked up Akane and kissed her silky head. “But just a moment. I have a little present for you.”
She stood and beckoned me to follow her into the garden. The beauty of it left me gasping, but Kiku seemed not to even notice. After a few steps, Akane squealed to be let down, and Kiku let her jump from her arms. The spaniel capered across the garden and into a shelter at the far side, where she was greeted with ecstatic whimpers. Kiku smiled serenely.
“I found a mate for Akane. Mori-san wasn’t at all happy about it, but I thought it would stop little Akane from getting jealous of Ichiro.” She waved her hand for me to go look, and I smiled with pleasure.
Four sweet little pups were battling for their mother’s attention. Akane promptly splayed herself on her back, offering them milk, but the puppies were not interested.
“They are beautiful!”
“They are,” Kiku agreed cheerfully. “They’re all weaned now. I’m going to keep one so Akane has some company, and Mori has promised another two to his patrons’ wives. Would you like to take the other one? It’s a girl.”
She pointed at a red and cream puppy, already the image of its mother.
“Oh, I would love it. Thank you.”
She nodded at my maid and pointed at the puppy.
“May I call it Kiku?” I asked shyly. Kiku smiled and we embraced tightly, but now that the maid was back, the time for intimacy had gone.
Mori-san met me at the door, a small silk bundle in his hand. He glanced at the puppy and gave me a look of approval, probably pleased to see the last of the litter go. The thought crossed my mind that Kiku was quite likely to want Akane to have a new litter of pups every time she herself conceived and smothered a giggle, turning it into an expression of gratitude.
I handed Mori’s bundle over to Auntie as soon as I got back to the Hidden House. She looked at little Kiku and sniffed.
“Present from Kiku, is she? Well, I suppose you had better keep her then.”
I was overjoyed. I had given my pet kitten to Midori not long before she left. I hoped that by some miracle he was still with her. To have something all of my own again was lovely.
The girls loved little Kiku, and the sweet-natured little puppy was soon the center of attention. That, and the news I had for them about Kiku. When I told them about little Ichiro, I saw my own hunger reflected in all their faces. It wasn’t just the thought of the baby, delicious as he was, it was everything that Kiku had in abundance and we had not. A home of her own. A doting husband. And perhaps above all, respectability.
Sute broke the spell. “Kiku’s lucky, isn’t she? I don’t suppose there’s another woman in the whole of Edo that has a husband who worships her like Mori-san does.”
We all smiled ruefully, shaking off the magic. She was right, of course. Most women were as much the slave of their husbands as we were of our patrons. And a wife could be put aside almost as easily as we could, should a potential danna tire of our attentions.
I watched the twins nod their heads, in total harmony as always. Naruko sighed, and Masaki yawned and stretched. The moment for wishing on the stars had gone, and I felt that perhaps all of us were better for the loss. After all, it was never going to be our fate, so why hope for the impossible?
Our “trinket” from Akira-san made us gasp. The precious jade and gold bracelets that Auntie gave to each of us before our patrons arrived were stunning.
“A small gift for you all from Akira-san,” she said benevolently.
We all stared at them in awe, and I wondered yet again if Kiku could possibly be right about Akira. These were exceptionally beautiful pieces, and undoubtedly very costly. I decided not to say anything at all to the girls about Akira’s problems. There was no point in upsetting them. I would not speak to them about Midori either. Gossip as juicy as that could never be contained.
It was only later, when I was crawling onto my futon, that I realized I had not felt those unseen eyes on me on my way back to the Hidden House.
10
The dragon fly lands
Where it will. A short life, yes,
But oh! So joyous.
Although I had decided I would not speak to the other geisha about what Kiku had revealed to me, I was determined to see what Ken had to say about the situation. He was closer to Akira than the rest of us, so he would know the truth. Although Kiku had warned me to take care with him, I still longed for him. For him to touch me. To make love to me. Just to be alone with him. Surely, my instinct couldn’t be that wrong. Hadn’t he watched over me when I had gone to see Kiku? Akira knew where I was going. If he had wanted Ken to s
py on me, he would simply have told him to go with me in place of my maid.
No, it was surely Ken himself who had cared enough to make sure I was safe. The idea gave me a glow of pleasure.
And yet, Kiku’s words had started a worm of doubt. Was Ken really too good to be true? What did I actually know about him? I began to worry, endlessly, my thoughts going round and round.
Ken kept a stone face in front of the other geisha. My patrons were reasonably well behaved, so he had no need to intervene. I was jittery with longing and worry, veering between wondering if I would ever get the chance to be on my own with him again and thinking it might be better if the opportunity never occurred. The anxiety nearly drove me mad.
And then the gods decided to smile on me. On us.
It rained. It rained day after day after day. The streets of the Floating World became mired in thick mud. The maids came back from their errands with the hems of their kimonos splashed and spoiled with muck in spite of the geta that raised their feet inches above the roadway.
Auntie moaned that her joints were on fire. She took to her bed, only stirring to shout for the maids to bring tea and food to her rooms.
Even the clients deserted us. Our usual thriving flow of patrons declined to a trickle, and then one day Auntie called for me and told me we had no patrons at all for that evening. She was even grumpier than usual. I stared at her in disbelief. For the very first time since I had been in the Hidden House, she had not bothered to put any makeup on, not even a wig. Her own hair hung down in thick, grey plaits.
“Are you well, Auntie?” I asked cautiously.
“I’m too old to be well,” she snapped back. “This rain! My joints ache. I have a cold, I think. When I lie down I can’t breathe for coughing.”
“Shall I get you some tea? Perhaps some sake would help?”
Auntie waved me away, but I thought she seemed pleased by my attention.
I nibbled my lip as I left her. Auntie was the one constant in our lives. She bullied us unmercifully, but she was always there for us. How had she come to get so old, so frail, without any of us noticing? I wondered what it would be like in the Hidden House without her, and my mouth was suddenly dry. I remembered Akira-san calling her Hana, and suddenly I was less afraid of this tired old woman.
The geisha greeted my announcement without enthusiasm. It was as if the rain had crept into their bodies and dulled their senses. The twins said they would go for a nap. Naruko and Masaki smiled at each other, and we all knew how they would spend the afternoon and evening. Sute said she was going to practice the samisen. We all pulled a face at that. Sute had no sense of rhythm at all, and her attempts to play and sing were truly terrible. I had a stroke of inspiration and suggested she take Kiku to her room to teach her to sit and beg. Truth to tell, I had no real wish to see my pet taught tricks, but if it stopped Sute’s caterwauling, it was worth it.
The house settled into silence. I sat quietly on my futon, listening to the rain. I may have dozed for I never heard my door open. The first I knew that I was not alone was when I felt Ken’s lips on my neck. Then I was awake in a moment.
He put his finger on his mouth and beckoned for me to follow him. I hung back, shaking my head. Auntie, I knew, was in her room. She would wake if a mouse dared to cross her tatami. What was Ken thinking? He smiled and tugged me after him, but away from Auntie’s room and toward the kitchen. Was he hungry for something other than me, I wondered bleakly? But I did him an injustice. At the last bend in the corridor that led to the kitchen, he paused and pressed on a screen that looked to me to be a fixed part of the wall. It slid aside smoothly under his pressure, and I walked through into the short corridor that opened on to what I already thought of as “our” hidden room. This, then, was one of the other doors I had seen in the passage leading here. I paused for a second, getting my bearings, and then realized that the other door must lead directly into the courtyard. Of course. Hadn’t Akira said the room was used when one of his friends needed to hide? It had to have a discreet entrance to the outside of the Hidden House. I waited impatiently for him to close the door, and then—good intentions forgotten in a second—almost ran the few steps into his arms.
“Ah. You haven’t forgotten me then!” His voice was teasing, but I heard a question beneath the banter.
“I thought it was the other way round. That you had forgotten about me.”
He shook his head. “There has been no chance to be alone with you. None at all. I thought it was better to wait until I knew we were safe rather than take the risk.”
I pouted. I knew he was right, but I wanted him to say he would face any danger for me. That anything was worth a snatched moment together. But he didn’t. I felt a flash of disappointment, and then he was grasping me so tightly all the air left my lungs and I was shivering as he kissed my neck.
“You have no idea, none at all, how much I have longed for you.”
His voice was deep, almost hoarse. That was better, I thought. Much better. Kiku’s warning flew out of my head and I relaxed against him, thrilling to his touch. Just a tiny remnant of common sense remained. And I had been annoyed with him for being too cautious.
“What about the geisha? The maids? Someone might have seen you go into my room.”
He spoke without taking his lips from my neck, and the words vibrated deliciously against my skin. “Naruko and Masaki are together. Sute is with the twins. All three of them are curled up together fast asleep, with Kiku asleep with them. I shut your door behind us. The maids will not go into your room without permission. We are safe.”
I doubted it, but even the uncertainty imparted delight. I moved my neck against his mouth and shuddered with pleasure. My neck was cold when he took his lips away. He smiled at me.
“Ken.” I traced my finger down his face. As my fingertips reached his lips, he bit the end of my fingernail. Ah!
Common sense and caution flew out of the window and into the rainy air. A fragment of question lingered for a spare moment, but I pushed it aside. Later. There were things I had to ask him, but not now. Other things were more important. Last time—and was it really the first time I had known this man?—Ken had taken me to touch the stars. He had taught me feelings and desires that I hadn’t even known had existed. Now, it was his turn.
He was fumbling with my obi, trying to dissolve the intricate knot that held it in place. His awkwardness delighted me. Any one of our patrons would have had it ripped open in a second. Very gently, I took his hand away and smiled at his surprise. I smiled again as I leaned forward and loosed his robe carefully, pushing it away from his shoulders and letting it fall to the matting.
He leaned forward to take me into his embrace immediately, but I put my hand on his deliciously smooth chest and held him at bay. It took all my willpower to do it, but I was determined. I had had my time in rapture. Today, Ken would discover what delight I could give back to him. And of course, by giving pleasure I would take it. Ten fold.
I could see from his face that he was confused. He looked at me helplessly, his lips pursed to find words that didn’t come.
I spoke softly. “Your turn.”
I undid my obi quickly and shrugged off my kimono. As we were not expecting clients, I had only a chemise on underneath, and that followed my kimono to the floor in moments. I kicked both garments aside and then stood back and looked at my lover.
The last time we had been together it had been moonlight, and there was much of him I had not seen properly. Now, I ran my gaze over him hungrily, taking in every inch of him, at the skin that was truly as smooth as a woman’s. I took a deep breath as I saw the power of his body obvious in every part of him. The quality of stillness I had sensed before was still there, yet as he stood there naked, it was obvious that it was an illusion. He might be still, but at the same time he was poised. The slightest alarm would have seen him ready. Ready to fight, or to flee? His head moved slightly, devouring my own nakedness, and I had my answer. Ken would do anything for
what he considered right. For me? I thought the answer was yes, and my skin rippled with delight at the idea.
I put my hand on his ribs in a gentle warning for him to keep his distance, just for the moment. I dropped to my knees before him. I began to lick just below his belly button, allowing my tongue to dip teasingly into the perfect circle before I moved lower. His tree of flesh bobbed beneath my chin and I grinned to myself. Not yet, Ken.
Down and further down still, I left a snail trail of silver saliva glistening on his belly. As I reached his black moss, I rubbed my nose hard in the hair, snuffling like a badger hunting in the night. I felt Ken tense and rubbed my cheek against him.
I wasn’t at all surprised when his hands fastened themselves in my hair and he tried to push my mouth toward his tree. He might be my lover, but he was still a man. A man, but not a patron. And I wasn’t going to allow him to tell me what he wanted. Today, he was going to take what I offered. The knowledge thrilled me.
Very deliberately, I leaned back on my heels and inspected his tree with interest. I tapped its very tip and giggled as it bounced back at my touch. I looked up at Ken and was pleased to see he was smiling. He understood the game I was playing.
I licked my lips slowly and took his tree between my teeth, nipping hard enough for him to feel, but not quite enough to hurt. Ken tensed and I heard him gasp. I bit a little harder, and he moaned. I slid his tree further into my mouth, allowing my teeth to rasp quite hard against his flesh.
To my surprise, Ken stood absolutely still. I paused, wondering if I was doing something wrong.
“Please.”
The single word was a sibilant hiss. For a second, I had no idea if Ken was asking me to carry on or to stop. Then he thrust his tree hard between my teeth and I had my answer. I gulped at him, almost purring with pleasure. I placed my fingers around his kintama and squeezed, gently. I heard him moan and twisted my fingers in his flesh. I was made reckless by own growing desire. I must have pinched harder than I intended since he yelped.