The moment she realized her life was in danger she ran. It was cowardly, but Anomie wasn't one to fight and she wasn't one to die. But cowardice didn't matter when the world's view is through the kaleidoscope of a courtesan.
Kakashi/OC
Story feature...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE SUN WAS DIM UPON THE BALCONY ON THE EVE OF WINTER WHEN I MET OHASHI. I remember staring into her eyes and trailing down the supple softness of her neck, uncovered without fear. I remembered the curvature of her breasts, the tips dipping in a perky nature from underneath the silk of a well-crafted kimono. If I hadn't already been informed, I would have never expected someone so beautiful to be a courtesan. In the cages, all the prostitutes had been of the older variety, already ripe with experience.
With experience, I saw, meant that they had seen the worst of all this life could offer. Underneath the white face paint and beautiful silks, were bruises and disfigurations that came with the knowledge that all these women were worth were a handful of coins. I had grown afraid to become like that, afraid that my face would be littered with bruises, that my teeth would be knocked out with a forceful fist, afraid that my leg would break like the poor girl who had a night with a forceful lover. She had been a difficult one to sell after that, and the last I had seen was that she was sold to a cruel nobleman who could do what he wanted with his toy. "No one wants to bed a cripple," the master of the cages had said to the remaining girls, his losses now mitigated.
I remembered when I met Ohashi, she had been smiling. It was odd, to see a smile after being taken by force from an older gentleman who had never been with a girl younger than 12. I doubted he cared that I was as young as his little daughter, Sadako, or maybe it was because of the resemblance that he wanted me. Whores don't ask questions, we just do what we are told.
Sakimono Haji was the man who took my hand, spurring me with sweet whispers as he whisked me away from one brothel to another. He had said my potential was being wasted in the presence of the lowly filth of the poor districts. He said my beauty was meant to be spoiled in wealth and gold.
Being the naïve 10 year old, I of course believed him. Anything was better than being lined up in cages with the other girls and treated as wild animals rather than girls taken from their homes. I had known from a young age, because everyone always reminded me, that I was a pretty one. I had just thought that this would be my life. Lined up and taken again and again since I was 6. A part of me still believed that I would catch someone's eye and they take me back to their home and raise me.
That naïve part of me still believed in a fantasy where parents would happily adopt a sullied whore from Nichijou's district. It was a belief that turned to ashes in my mouth.
I believed so many lies by the time I met Ohashi Hana. The beautiful Tayū that still had it in her to smile whilst she was selling her body for any passing coin. Yet, there was something glamourous about the brothel in which she worked. Instead of cages, there was music and song and dance. She looked upon me like that of a mother, catching sight of their child for the first time. She looked upon guests as if she were the temptress, waiting in the shadows to show them a piece of heaven on earth. She looked upon enemies as if they were a speck in the dark, swallowed whole as the moon went down.
