The Geisha Way

Ch 1- The Start Of All Beginnings.

“As you can see, she is in good health. You’re money will not be in vain.” His voice was distant, and not for her. He spoke to the two men that accompanied him home. The two men exchanged gazes between each other, and nodded to him. There silence was enough to drive Miomomo crazy. She wanted to run, but something was planting her feet towards the ground. She was rooted, like a tree.

“Thank you for your cooperation Tankana-san.” One of the broad-shouldered men spoke. The other pulled out an old and worn sack from his jacket and tossed it at her father. He greedily grabbed the pouch.

“Is it all there?” He inquired desperately. The men nodded.

“Otousan, what is going on?” Her father looked down at her and kneeled.

“These men are going to take you—to have a better life than I could give you.” His voice was weak as his smile was that he gave her. The heart in her chest sunk as if it was a heavy object in water. Tears already barged their way out and steamed down her face like a river. He held her hands in his large, calloused ones.

“B-but I-I w-want to stay with you and Okasan…” Her broken voice whispered. If he wasn’t at her eye level, he wouldn’t have heard her over the bucketing rain. One of the men grabbed her roughly. She fought, kicked, and punched. The other man chuckled.

“Let’s go then.” They nodded to each other and walked off the porch, leaving her broken mess of a father standing there. The man holding her flipped her on his shoulder and held her firmly. Once she realized her attempts were futile, she calmed down. She held out her arm as if she could reach back and hold her father. He stood there in the rain; the water fell down his face. If he was crying she wouldn’t be able to tell.

“Otousan!” She wailed over and over again as if magically, some divine intervention would bring her back to her father. Her screaming was carried over the rain and she watched her father slump to his knees in the mushiness of the bitter, drenched earth. Anger flowed through her body, and overpowered over every other emotion. Her eyes started to sting, they felt different. She quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind; there was nothing that could be done about it. After they grew farther and farther away from her home, she stayed silent—wilting into the man’s shoulder. Her anger however, did not cease, but increased.

“Finally, I thought she would never stop screaming.” Their words did not bother her; she was too broken and full of hate to do anything. The journey was lengthy, seeing as how she lived quite a bit away from wherever they were going.

“We’re almost to the Hanamachi.” The man holding her spoke. His voice was deep and vibrated her body.

The Hanamachi or ‘flower town’ was crowded with people despite the rain. Miomomo kept her eyes closed, they felt significantly different; it made her feel the hatred ten times more. She could feel the man holding her slow his pace down; she could only assume that meant they were reaching their destination. Miomomo could hear the other man knock on what she assumed was door. After a few moments, she could hear the door open.

“Is that the girl?” The voice belonged to an older woman. The man holding her nodded and stepped inside the house. She could feel him removing her off his shoulders. She gracefully landed on the floor. Her legs felt numb, due to lack of use, but she held her ground. Her wet, thick and shoulder length black hair shadowed in front of her face, and she allowed herself to open her eyes. Hatred was pouring out of them. “Here’s the money I promised you.” As the men left, the woman stood in front of her. “Here child, let me get a look at your face.” The woman’s boney, wrinkled hand grabbed her chin and forced her head up. She didn’t look up at first, but she slowly brought her gaze up towards the lady. She looked to be in her forties, and her face conveyed stress. When her eyes met the woman’s, the ladies eyes widened. “What are you child, what clan?”

“U-Uchiha.” Her eyes stayed widened as the gazed upon Miomomo’s face. The woman nodded approvingly as she tilted the little girls face from side to side.

“I suppose you will do.” She said in a nonchalant tone. “You have awakened the sharingan; that will make good money.” Dropping her hand from the girls face, she turned her back towards her. The sharingan? Is that why she could feel such intense hatred radiating from her eyes? Although she did not like the fact that she was in this place, she was a little excited to obtain her bloodline limit.

“I want to go home!” Her voice yelled at the woman. She continued: “I want my Okasan and Otousan!” The woman turned sharply around and glared at Miomomo.

“Do you not understand Miomomo? This is your new home. Your father sold you to this Okiya to pay for your mother hospital fees—she is going to go though surgery that she probably won’t make it out of.” The woman said harshly. Tears streamed down her face once more and she screamed. The loathing feeling she felt for the woman, made her lash out. Before she could hit the woman, the woman smacked her. She felt the woman grab her wrist harshly and dragged her along the hardwood floors. The woman stopped abruptly and threw her inside a room. “Toph, take the girl and hush her up.” Before she slammed the door she looked down at Miomomo. “I am your Okasan now, and you belong to me.” Without sparing another word she slammed the door.

A pair of feet rushed over to Miomomo’s side on the floor. It was a girl who looked older than her. She had short black hair in pigtails and pale white eyes. She seemed nice enough.

“I’m Toph; Okasan is usually really nice…” Miomomo just stood up and went to her bed to sit down. “What is your name?” The girl said standing in front of her.

“Miomomo.” The girl gave her a smile.

“Don’t worry Mio-chan; you will get use to it for after a while. It is always bad on the first night.”  Toph helped her into a kimono that resembled her own, and dried Miomomo’s hair.

“What is this place?” She asked after a while of Toph drying her hair. Her tears were long dried against her face.

“It is an Okiya, where you will learn to be a geisha.” Miomomo’s face turned to anger once more.

“I want to be a ninja not a geisha!” The girl hushed her.

“Do not be so noisy, or else Okasan will whip you.” She gently scolded. Miomomo just shook her head furiously.

“She is not my Okasan, and she never will be.” The girl’s face fell softly. She stared into Miomomo’s sharingan eyes.

“You are an Uchiha?”

“Yes.”

 “How did you survive the massacre?” She didn’t feel like she was obligated to tell this Toph girl everything, so she kept quiet. Toph sighed and dropped the towel on the floor. “Well get some sleep Mio-chan, we have a lot of chores in the morning.” Toph walked to the light switch and turned off the lights before getting in her own bed. Miomomo didn’t realize how tired she was until she reluctantly laid down on the bed. She curled herself into a fetal position. The rain was relentless and pounded against the roof of the Okiya. The sky was still crying for her, but this time, Miomomo also wept for herself.