1 Diving into the Beginning [Daremo, or Invite] Fri Mar 29, 2019 10:16 am
Marici
S-rank
“Momma, how did you and daddy meet?”, Zaylee would ask as she looked up from her book: it was a teen-based novel about a love story between two kids who had been friends when they were young, but had been separated due to one of them having to move away. They had met again in highschool, and after realizing who they were they had rekindled their relationship but it was rocky due to how both of them had changed so much during that time frame. It had made her wonder about her parents own beginnings and thus her question.
“Oh… well that’s a very long story.”, Marici responded, glancing up from the file she had been reading over and over towards her daughter who was seated across the living room from her.
“Didn’t you keep a journal though when you were younger?”, Zaylee would respond, thinking about her own journal she kept hidden up in her room, one she used mostly to keep track of the nightmares and dreams she had, but which she had begun to add details of her daily life into as well.
Marici found herself blinking and then grinning. “Oh gosh… yes, I did actually. Quite a lot of them. I forgot about them though. They should be up in the attic.”, Marici would respond, placing the file down on the coffee table after closing it, knowing well she didn’t have to worry about anyone peeking inside of it. Getting up from the couch she was unsurprised to find Zaylee getting up as well, prepared to follow after her. Chuckling Marici made her way upstairs to the second floor, listening as Zaylee called out for her father and brother to come join them. It made her wonder if her and Mamoru hadn’t been speaking about such wonderings behind her and Nanashi’s back. In truth, they had never really told the children much about themselves, but then again with their father faking his death and taking on the identity of Daremo it had been a necessary secret while the children were younger. Now though, Marici felt that they were ready to know some secrets, and that they would be able to keep them without trouble. Besides, if nothing else, they likely had even more questions, especially after their recent trip to Iwa only a little over a month prior where they had stayed at an Okiya while Marici and Nanashi were busy meeting with someone and handling some trouble.
Pausing at the doorway to the stairs that led up to the attic she would turn her focus onto her husband should he and Mamoru chosen to join them. “I think it’s time I pull my old journals out of storage.. And that our children learn of our past. I’m sure they both have questions after Iwa, and they’re old enough to have most of their questions answered now.” If her husband agreed she would open the door, leading the way up to the attic which was used as nothing more than a giant storage room for things they didn’t want in the house: the place was sealed in such a way that only members of the family could gain access, and even then certain rooms would not open unless it was Daremo or herself who wanted to venture inside. Making her way to one of these rooms in particular she headed over to an old box that was so filled with various types of journals it couldn’t even close. “Grab a seat, we’re going to be here a while.”, Marici spoke, before sitting down on the floor with her back resting against the wall, watching as Zaylee perched herself up on a giant wooden crate and got comfortable. Opening the box Marici began searching through it, figuring that they could begin from the very start of things. “Some of these journals are not mine, but were given to me by various people within the Okiya I grew up in so that if I could read them at my leisure and remember my history even back before I turned eight - which was when I began to keep my own journal. Due to some of the details I’ll be giving you a brief summary of things - the secrets of the Maiko and Geisha who entrusted me their journals are not mine to tell, so I’ll be keeping this focused on just myself and your father.” With the children nodding in understanding Marici pulled forth the first journal, this one belonging to Chiyo, Marici’s mother whom she never spoke of, and flipped to the first page before beginning to give an overview of what her mother had written, giving the children their first glimpse into not only their grandmother on her side, but their great grandmother as well.
Chiyo had been born into the life of a Maiko. Her mother, a woman by the name of Lin, was an absolutely beautiful Geisha and a symbol of perfection within the Okiya. She had started out a simple servant, sold by her father to the Okiya after Lin’s mother had died and he was no longer capable of taking care of her at just the age of six. She was to be a servant within the Okiya, and for the first year or so of her new life that’s exactly what she was. Yet there was no denying the natural beauty of Lin, nor the way that the eyes of men and women alike were easily drawn to her even in a simple blue yutaka like that which the servants within the Okiya wore. Thus Lin began the life of training to be a Maiko, worth more as such than she ever would be as a servant. The arts, seduction, and smooth talking were things that Lin had a natural knack for. She had a way of reading people and could poise herself and act accordingly: knowing when to laugh, when to be silent, when to speak up, and so forth. These were skills that caused her to do well with the men and women whom she encountered as a Maiko. At the age of thirteen Lin underwent her mizuage ceremony, her price one of the highest ever in the Okiya. She underwent the whole ordeal without a complaint, and with her head held high. Her mizuage led to her becoming pregnant at an early age, and while there were ways for the young Geisha to handle such matters Lin decided to give birth to the child growing daily within her womb despite her young age. This child was to be named Chiyo upon her birth, a child whom Lin absolutely loved and adored. From the time she could walk and talk Lin began to train Chiyo in the arts of the Maiko, wanting her daughter to be as successful as she was: yet Chiyo had never been very good at reading people, and always seemed to have a snotty attitude about herself.
Despite the best efforts of Lin and the other Geisha, Chiyo seemed to be a lost cause: costing more money for the Okiya than they ever thought she would be able to bring in. Yet, the Okiya mother took pity on Lin, knowing just how much she loved her daughter, a child who had rendered her in capable of having any more, and thus Chiyo’s training continued. Yet, Chiyo had a bad streak, and despite knowing her mother’s best efforts and knowing well that she was walking on thin ice on whether or not she could stay or would have to go, Chiyo began to use her beauty to draw the attention of any and all men. She allowed them to do whatever they wished to her, and it was through this that Chiyo began early on to get a reputation as nothing more than a finely dressed whore. By the time of her mizuage she was nothing more than spoiled goods who many had had a bite of, and her reputation was known well by that point with the more prominent men who would pay for the privilege. Barely anyone was interested in her, and knowing well that if she didn’t get at least one bidder she would end up being thrown from the Okiya or forced back into servanthood, so Chiyo began to do what she did best: scheme. She refuted the rumors, whispering lies in any man who would give her the time of day, trying to convince someone - anyone - that she was still untouched and pure. One man fell for the ruse, a man who had had an eye on her for some time and whom had ended up leaving his wife under plans to run away with Chiyo once she could get herself free from her debt to the Okiya: Lee Tanaka. She had managed to convince him of her purity quite a while ago and refused to allow him to believe the rumors that stated otherwise, with no plan as to how to prove that she wasn’t lying. When it came time to bid on her mizuage only one phone call came in, and Mister Tanaka’s low bid was placed: the idea behind it being he would bid just enough to free her of her debt and then the pair would leave the country together afterwards. The night of her ceremony had been brutal: upon realizing that she was not pure Lee Tanaka lost his temper, brutalizing her and using her before threatening to kill her for deceiving him. He had lost his wife because of Chiyo, and his kids had ended up being taken with her when she left. He had lost everyone he cared about being his sister, and it was all because of this one woman. Had it not been for Chiyo’s quick thinking he would have ended her life right then and there, yet once more she convinced the man to spare her life through a series of lies and false promises she never expected to keep. She made a deal with him that in exchange for allowing her to live not only would she help to ensure he got his hands on any girl who caught his attention by making him aware of the current bids so that he would always win, but she also promised him her first born daughter. After striking the deal Chiyo had managed to make it home, but just barely, and while she had no intentions of following through with her deal Mister Tanaka had other plans in mind: he wasn’t about to let her con him once again. The sight of Chiyo upon her returning to the Okiya was enough to send her mother over the edge, Lin blaming herself for being unable to protect her daughter, and holding on to a great deal of guilt. Chiyo, angry at everything and anything because of the position she was in, only further increased this guilt within her mother by constantly berating her among other things, pushing Lin to the point to where she ended up committing suicide - or rather, that was the assumption that all but Aguri was under. In reality Chiyo faked her death as a means to escape her brute of a child, wanting to put as much distance between herself and Chiyo as possible while continuing to keep an eye on things from afar, usually done in the form of letters from Aguri, sent in secret, that kept her up to speed on what her daughter was up to.
For Chiyo life was not an easy affair though she hid her plight as well as she could. While most people learned from their mistakes, Chiyo herself did not. She continued whoring around, her attentions upon the wealthy men, now more-so than ever before. She hoped that by ensnaring some man in her proverbial trap she would find a rich man willing to take her away from the Okiya, and thus the life she was forced to live as well as Mister Tanaka’s clutches. She found such a man in a young businessman named Jin Uchiha. Jin often conducted business in various countries, and was someone she had seen many times over again before her mizuage when accompanying one of her older Geisha sisters to various parties at the tea houses, and yet she had never spoken to him. Now though she made the connection, often taking assignments to tea houses or specific parties that she knew Jin would be at. She made her presence known, ensured that he saw her, and eventually he fell for her beauty like many others before him. For Jin there was no other Geisha as beautiful as Chiyo, and Chiyo used this to her advantage. Their relationship turned physical quickly, and she hoped that with her various skills as both a Geisha and a bedroom partner that she would be able to lure Jin Uchiha away from his current wife. Yet, unknown to Chiyo at the time, Jin Uchiha was expecting a son. And after months of their relationship continuing, and mere weeks after Chiyo found out she was pregnant, Jin spoke to Chiyo one last time, proclaiming that they couldn’t continue their relationship, that he could not betray his wife in such a manner especially after giving birth to his son so soon, and that he wouldn’t be pursuing Chiyo any longer. Devastated that her plan had failed, Chiyo hid her pregnancy from Jin, keeping the information to herself as she bid him goodbye one last time.
During the early months she simply avoided the tea houses that Jin Uchiha was at, not wanting to risk him figuring out that she was pregnant - though she planned on denying it was his if he did. But as her pregnancy progressed she busied herself around the Okiya. It was during this time, as she neared the due date of her daughter, that a new arrival appeared at the Okiya whose past was masked in secrecy. This woman, Mayuko, gave Chiyo the willies and she found herself feeling distrustful of the woman. What was more was she was frightened of her: the woman had a certain air about her that screamed danger, and her position within the Okiya as per a deal made with Aguri, was to be a bodyguard to the various Maiko and Geisha, instead of a Maiko or Geisha herself. However, as much as she avoided the woman, she stll found herself often stuck with her, more so after she gave birth to her sickly daughter, Marici. Marici, while born on time, was born with a terminal disease that caused her body to reject her own organs in much the same way a transplant recipient risked rejecting the donated organ. The doctors fought this of course tooth and nail, hoping to see the child survive, and yet her prognosis was grim and she was not expected to live long. However, Marici was a fighter, and despite spending quite a lot of time in the hospital she eventually became well enough to return home to the Okiya. Due to Mayuko having a child shortly before Marici did, Chiyo found that she was stuck enduring play dates between the two children, Marici and Mayuko’s son Nanashi. Despite all this time together though a bond that normally would have formed between two women did not form between Chiyo and Mayuko - there was a constant discomfort there, at least for Chiyo, that she simply could not get over. Of course, there was more than just that on Chiyo’s plate as she had to ensure that she kept to the deal she and Lee Tanaka had struck, having to help win him bids on the various Maiko he was interested in, both in her own Okiya and others all the while hiding well what she was doing due to the consequences which she knew she would face if anyone found out.
Of course, Lee Tanaka was unable to lay eyes upon Chiyo’s child, though he waited like the patient man he was for the girl to become old enough for her mizuage. Chiyo likewise waited for this date, as it would finally free her from Mister Tanaka’s clutches by offering him an effective replacement for her own. Knowing that Mister Tanaka would likely kill her if she gave over damaged goods, she kept her daughter close and became beastly protective over the girl, never really allowing her out of sight if she could help it. She ensured that her daughter’s training went well, giving her extra lessons despite how sickly or exhausted the child had been, and having to deal with the relapses of the disease that her daughter had. Everything she did was in preparation for a day years to come, but she wanted to show the utmost vigilance in ensuring that nothing went wrong. Yet, there was no stopping the friendship between Nanashi and Marici, nor the way that Marici seemed to favor Mayuko over her: often screaming when Chiyo picked her up and immediately reaching for Mayuko instead - many of these situations ending, much to Chiyo’s dismay, by Chiyo being told to hand the toddler over to Mayuko so she didn’t end up screaming herself sick. As Marici slowly got older Chiyo found any reason she could to keep the two children apart, doing much the same with the various other Maiko and Geisha within the Okiya, and yet despite her best efforts her attempts were in vain: too many people adored the sickly child, and would often chide Chiyo over trying to keep the girl so busy that she had no time for anything else.
Chiyo sat off to the side, watching her daughter play with Nanashi. The two children, much to Chiyo’s dismay, had been fairly close since the day they met - though it helped or so she assumed that they were the only two children that close in age ranges in the entire Okiya. If she was being honest Chiyo was quite a bit jealous of the relationship Marici and Nanashi had: Marici had taken lately to screaming or crying everytime Chiyo even attempted to pick her up, or otherwise attempting to run away and leaving Chiyo to chase the fast little child all over the Okiya. It was annoying to say the least. Yet, in that moment she watched as her daughter made her way over to Mayuko on what were now steady legs and plopped herself down right on the woman’s lap as she sat on the floor with the two children. Marici yawned, attempting to snuggle up right against Mayuko in a manner she had never done with Chiyo herself. Feeling a spike in her agitation due to her jealousy Chiyo stood immediately, crossing the distance between herself and Mayuko while reaching for her daughter. “Nap time.”, Chiyo spoke softly, trying her best to hide the agitation she was feeling within her voice.
Marici of course did as she had been doing lately, and immediately let out a single cry that led to a coughing fit as she clutched onto Mayuko’s top with her tiny little hands, burying her face into the woman’s chest while repeating “No, no. Bad. No, no. Bad.”
“Come on, Marici. We’re not doing this again today. It’s time for your nap.”, Chiyo would respond, her voice stern. The woman was still reaching for her daughter, but the girl was ignoring her entirely, not even looking in her direction as she clutched to Mayuko as if the other woman was her mother and not Chiyo.
“No, no. Bad. I nap with Nana.” Keeping her hold on Mayuko with her left hand she looked up and over towards Nanashi, reaching for him and opening and closing her hand as she often did when she wanted something. Yet, seeing her mother reaching for her arm she snatched it back and curled it against her chest which she pressed against Mayuko. “No, no touch! You bad!”
“Marici! You get your little butt over here right now so you can take a nap.”, Chiyo spoke, her voice more stern than ever, and the volume of it steadily rising.
“No! I want ‘uko and Nana! I take nap with Nana.”
Chiyo opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment the door to Aguri’s office opened, the woman leaning against the door frame with a sigh. “Let it go, Chiyo. Why don’t you run some errands for me while the little one’s sleep. There’s no point in getting Marici all worked up and coughing again; she’ll just end up having to go back to the hospital and you know it.” Aguri held out a list, watching as Chiyo looked back and forth between Aguri herself and the child who she had been getting angrier and angrier with. Yet, Chiyo knew that arguing with Aguri was a bad idea, and she snatched the list out of her hand before leaving the Okiya, slamming the outer gate shut behind herself as she disappeared. Aguri watched her go before looking towards Marici with nothing more than love and understanding in her gaze, before she shifted her attention to Mayuko. “Situations like these make me wonder what little Marici knows and can feel that we can’t.” Yet, whatever questions Aguri might have had for the child would certainly wait as with a soft sleepy yawn filling the air she watched as Marici snuggled right up to Mayuko and closed her eyes, asleep almost immediately now that her mother was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the years progressed many occasions like these came up again though in different forms: Marici wouldn’t willingly go down for a nap for her, would often wake up screaming and calling out for Nanashi or Mayuko the moment Chiyo entered a room, and during her stays in the hospital which were numerous and frequent when she was younger she would often get upset the moment Chiyo entered the room and begin to demand for Mayuko or Nanashi and for Chiyo to leave - and if she didn’t the child would often end up so worked up that the hospital staff would ask her to leave. Yet, by the time she was six a time would come in which this seemed to stop: either Marici getting old enough to simply accept Chiyo’s presence, or otherwise ignoring whatever gut instinct the child had that was telling her there was something off in regards to her mother.
With Marici calming down Chiyo found herself spending more time with the child, returning to having various reasons for the pair to be out of the house: shopping, getting their hair done, or mingling with people who would ensure that the child did well as a Geisha - if she made it through her mizuage. The stays in the hospital became less frequent, but posed a constant problem for the young girl. Yet, instead of this dissuading Chiyo from her path of using her child to square her own debts it just made her desperate enough to allow the child to survive up until that point: what happened afterwards happened.
Having finished going over the first journal belonging to her mother Marici closed it carefully: she hated the woman yes, but this journal spoke of things that Marici herself didn’t want to lose or throw away. It was the only reason she had kept the journal, well, that and ensuring that the children had something to look at should they have questions. Placing this journal to the side she focused back on the children after pulling another from the box. “Now that we’re done with my mother’s journal we’ll start with mine. I kept a bit more detail in mind than my mother did; mainly because at that point I not only had less secrets to hide, but also knew how to hide them better.”
“I feel bad for you, momma… Chiyo sounds horrible.”, Zaylee spoke, her voice sad as were her eyes as she stared over at Marici.
Smiling gently at her daughter Marici shook her head. “Don’t feel bad for me, my little one.Chiyo was horrible, yes. But she taught me to be strong, and more importantly she taught me to use my instincts and to trust them. I knew something was wrong with that woman even when I was a baby, I just didn’t know what. Most people don’t trust their gut instincts, and ignore them after a while. Even though I became calmer around Chiyo my instincts taught me not to trust her, and to be on my guard around her. It’s served me well even now as a shinobi. If anything what Chiyo put me through made me stronger. It also gave me the determination as you’ll soon hear about that caused me to go behind my mother’s back and do something very naughty.”
Seeing her daughter grinning at the concept of Marici being bad when she was younger, she held back any more questions she had in favor of Marici being able to focus on telling more of this story as she opened the journal and flipped to the first page. Marici began to read once more, and Zaylee found herself closing her eyes and picturing the things her mother spoke of as if she were there; like watching a movie through her mind.
The day was warm with a gentle breeze keeping the air from feeling to heavy with heat. The sun was shining brightly while clouds lazily passed by that were fluffy and white against the light blue background the sky gave. It was a beautiful day, especially to be out shopping as Marici and her mother were: her mother was looking to have a new kimono made for her daughter in celebration of her upcoming ninth birthday, and they had spent the morning going from shop to shop as her mother searched for the most perfect and unique fabric that would do her daughter the most justice. Most would have considered the outing boring, at least for a child, but Marici had always been a quiet and content child and she was more than happy to accompany her mother on such a task: curious as ever as to what kind of fabric her mother would end up ultimately deciding upon. Besides, it wasn’t all bad, as she had gotten more than her own fair share of delicious boba teas to try out from various venders, most of whom knew her mother well and offered them to the pair for free.
“Is she albino?”, came a masculine voice from nearby, causing both Marici and her mother Chiyo to glance off to their right to the well dressed businessman standing not more than three feet from them. The male had been in the middle of making a purchase at one of the market stalls when Marici’s albino appearance had caused him to take pause in what he was doing. The eight year old Maiko was finely dressed in a beautiful stark white yutaka which had brown stems on it from which pink lotus flowers were in the process of blooming from. Her long white hair, which was pin straight, and which when left down hung to her waist line, was currently done up in a beautiful bun on top of her head, and adorned with a lotus flower that had fully bloomed. With her pale skin, and reddish-pink eyes she looked like some kind of demonic china doll, but utterly beautiful.
Instead of responding herself Marici turned her gaze upon her mother who answered for her without missing a beat. “Yes, she is.”
This information only caused the man to smile as he looked over Marici as if she were a fine piece of meat for sale, or perhaps an expensive painting that he wished to get his hands on. “How old is she?”
Once more Marici kept her mouth closed and remained silent, feeling slightly unnerved by the way the man never took his eyes off of her or even seemed to blink. To cover this up, as her mother had always taught her never to show fear to a man or uncertainty for that matter, she lifted her straw to her pale pink lips and took a sip of the most latest boba tea she had gotten: this one was pink, strawberry flavored, with strawberry boba at the bottom that added a burst of more concentrated strawberry flavoring into her mouth whenever she happened to suck one up through the slightest larger than average straw. “She is eight.”, Marici listened as her mother, Chiyo, responded once more to the unknown to Marici business man.
“My oh my, so beautiful to be so young. I will certainly be looking forward to your thirteenth birthday. I might even put my bid in early with your Okiya mother…”, the man spoke, more so muttering to himself than to the two females as he turned and walked away.
In typical fashion for her mother, who even now was dressed in all of her Geisha splendor, she waited until the man was truly gone and out of both eyesight and earshot before pulling her daughter to the side and kneeling down enough to look Marici in her eyes. “If that man ever truly does win the bid for your Mizuage you should denounce the path of a Geisha immediately, my little Marici. That man is wealthy, but he is a brute, and has destroyed many young girls following your path.” No more was said about the man, nor the barbaric coming of age and womanhood practice for Maiko, as the two continued on with their shopping.
Returning to the Okiya around dusk, a fabric having been finally chosen and on its way for delivery, the two arrived together with Marici being quite happy to be home. While the day out with her mother had been overall very fun, she was feeling quite tired due to her most recent bout of sickness she had only very recently recovered from, and there was the fact that she was still on edge over the very brief conversation that had occured around noon dealing with the businessman who her mother had later identified to her as Lee Tanaka. Stepping through the gates of the Okiya it was unsurprising to find Aguri waiting for them, having bid farewell to several Geisha who were heading out to a large party that had been planned for weeks. “Did you two manage to find a fabric you like?”, Aguri questioned, her eyes turning to concern as she glanced over in time to see Marici’s exhausted appearance before her gaze shifted back to Chiyo. “You shouldn't have taken her with you, Chiyo. Poor Marici looks ready to collapse from exhaustion.”, the woman scolded Chiyo softly.
“We did find one. It’s utterly breathtaking, and Marici would look beautiful even in a potato sack made from the fabric, let alone a kimono.”, Chiyo would respond, glancing over to her daughter and likewise noting the exhaustion that seemed to extrude from the child. “She asked to come with, mother. I think she was afraid I’d pick out something she didn’t like.”
This caused Marici to smile and shrug her shoulders as she slipped off her gata and stepped properly into the house with the two older women. “You like greens, but I look like a rotten olive when I wear green, so I wanted to make sure you picked out something that wouldn’t make me look even paler than I am. Where’s Nana?”, Marici inquired.
“Right inside.”, Aguri would respond, still eyeing the girl with concern considering the dark circles under Marici’s eyes. Both adults followed her right inside, with Aguri looking between the mother and daughter with more curiosity than before: the woman was perceptive as always. “Something happened while you two were out, what is it?”, she inquired bluntly.
Chiyo hesitated but a moment, staring at her daughter whose back was to her with a great deal of sadness in her brown colored gaze. “Mister Tanaka saw her today while we were leaving one of the fabric shops. She’s caught his attention, and I assume you’ll be hearing from him soon. He wishes to bid early on her Mizuage. He was utterly entranced by the idea that she’s albino.” Instead of adding to her mother’s words, or giving her opinion on the matter, Marici simply lifted the straw of her boba tea once more to her lips and took a sip of it, choosing not to say anything at all: she didn’t trust her thoughts in that moment.
5,435
“Oh… well that’s a very long story.”, Marici responded, glancing up from the file she had been reading over and over towards her daughter who was seated across the living room from her.
“Didn’t you keep a journal though when you were younger?”, Zaylee would respond, thinking about her own journal she kept hidden up in her room, one she used mostly to keep track of the nightmares and dreams she had, but which she had begun to add details of her daily life into as well.
Marici found herself blinking and then grinning. “Oh gosh… yes, I did actually. Quite a lot of them. I forgot about them though. They should be up in the attic.”, Marici would respond, placing the file down on the coffee table after closing it, knowing well she didn’t have to worry about anyone peeking inside of it. Getting up from the couch she was unsurprised to find Zaylee getting up as well, prepared to follow after her. Chuckling Marici made her way upstairs to the second floor, listening as Zaylee called out for her father and brother to come join them. It made her wonder if her and Mamoru hadn’t been speaking about such wonderings behind her and Nanashi’s back. In truth, they had never really told the children much about themselves, but then again with their father faking his death and taking on the identity of Daremo it had been a necessary secret while the children were younger. Now though, Marici felt that they were ready to know some secrets, and that they would be able to keep them without trouble. Besides, if nothing else, they likely had even more questions, especially after their recent trip to Iwa only a little over a month prior where they had stayed at an Okiya while Marici and Nanashi were busy meeting with someone and handling some trouble.
Pausing at the doorway to the stairs that led up to the attic she would turn her focus onto her husband should he and Mamoru chosen to join them. “I think it’s time I pull my old journals out of storage.. And that our children learn of our past. I’m sure they both have questions after Iwa, and they’re old enough to have most of their questions answered now.” If her husband agreed she would open the door, leading the way up to the attic which was used as nothing more than a giant storage room for things they didn’t want in the house: the place was sealed in such a way that only members of the family could gain access, and even then certain rooms would not open unless it was Daremo or herself who wanted to venture inside. Making her way to one of these rooms in particular she headed over to an old box that was so filled with various types of journals it couldn’t even close. “Grab a seat, we’re going to be here a while.”, Marici spoke, before sitting down on the floor with her back resting against the wall, watching as Zaylee perched herself up on a giant wooden crate and got comfortable. Opening the box Marici began searching through it, figuring that they could begin from the very start of things. “Some of these journals are not mine, but were given to me by various people within the Okiya I grew up in so that if I could read them at my leisure and remember my history even back before I turned eight - which was when I began to keep my own journal. Due to some of the details I’ll be giving you a brief summary of things - the secrets of the Maiko and Geisha who entrusted me their journals are not mine to tell, so I’ll be keeping this focused on just myself and your father.” With the children nodding in understanding Marici pulled forth the first journal, this one belonging to Chiyo, Marici’s mother whom she never spoke of, and flipped to the first page before beginning to give an overview of what her mother had written, giving the children their first glimpse into not only their grandmother on her side, but their great grandmother as well.
~~~~~~~~~
Chiyo had been born into the life of a Maiko. Her mother, a woman by the name of Lin, was an absolutely beautiful Geisha and a symbol of perfection within the Okiya. She had started out a simple servant, sold by her father to the Okiya after Lin’s mother had died and he was no longer capable of taking care of her at just the age of six. She was to be a servant within the Okiya, and for the first year or so of her new life that’s exactly what she was. Yet there was no denying the natural beauty of Lin, nor the way that the eyes of men and women alike were easily drawn to her even in a simple blue yutaka like that which the servants within the Okiya wore. Thus Lin began the life of training to be a Maiko, worth more as such than she ever would be as a servant. The arts, seduction, and smooth talking were things that Lin had a natural knack for. She had a way of reading people and could poise herself and act accordingly: knowing when to laugh, when to be silent, when to speak up, and so forth. These were skills that caused her to do well with the men and women whom she encountered as a Maiko. At the age of thirteen Lin underwent her mizuage ceremony, her price one of the highest ever in the Okiya. She underwent the whole ordeal without a complaint, and with her head held high. Her mizuage led to her becoming pregnant at an early age, and while there were ways for the young Geisha to handle such matters Lin decided to give birth to the child growing daily within her womb despite her young age. This child was to be named Chiyo upon her birth, a child whom Lin absolutely loved and adored. From the time she could walk and talk Lin began to train Chiyo in the arts of the Maiko, wanting her daughter to be as successful as she was: yet Chiyo had never been very good at reading people, and always seemed to have a snotty attitude about herself.
Despite the best efforts of Lin and the other Geisha, Chiyo seemed to be a lost cause: costing more money for the Okiya than they ever thought she would be able to bring in. Yet, the Okiya mother took pity on Lin, knowing just how much she loved her daughter, a child who had rendered her in capable of having any more, and thus Chiyo’s training continued. Yet, Chiyo had a bad streak, and despite knowing her mother’s best efforts and knowing well that she was walking on thin ice on whether or not she could stay or would have to go, Chiyo began to use her beauty to draw the attention of any and all men. She allowed them to do whatever they wished to her, and it was through this that Chiyo began early on to get a reputation as nothing more than a finely dressed whore. By the time of her mizuage she was nothing more than spoiled goods who many had had a bite of, and her reputation was known well by that point with the more prominent men who would pay for the privilege. Barely anyone was interested in her, and knowing well that if she didn’t get at least one bidder she would end up being thrown from the Okiya or forced back into servanthood, so Chiyo began to do what she did best: scheme. She refuted the rumors, whispering lies in any man who would give her the time of day, trying to convince someone - anyone - that she was still untouched and pure. One man fell for the ruse, a man who had had an eye on her for some time and whom had ended up leaving his wife under plans to run away with Chiyo once she could get herself free from her debt to the Okiya: Lee Tanaka. She had managed to convince him of her purity quite a while ago and refused to allow him to believe the rumors that stated otherwise, with no plan as to how to prove that she wasn’t lying. When it came time to bid on her mizuage only one phone call came in, and Mister Tanaka’s low bid was placed: the idea behind it being he would bid just enough to free her of her debt and then the pair would leave the country together afterwards. The night of her ceremony had been brutal: upon realizing that she was not pure Lee Tanaka lost his temper, brutalizing her and using her before threatening to kill her for deceiving him. He had lost his wife because of Chiyo, and his kids had ended up being taken with her when she left. He had lost everyone he cared about being his sister, and it was all because of this one woman. Had it not been for Chiyo’s quick thinking he would have ended her life right then and there, yet once more she convinced the man to spare her life through a series of lies and false promises she never expected to keep. She made a deal with him that in exchange for allowing her to live not only would she help to ensure he got his hands on any girl who caught his attention by making him aware of the current bids so that he would always win, but she also promised him her first born daughter. After striking the deal Chiyo had managed to make it home, but just barely, and while she had no intentions of following through with her deal Mister Tanaka had other plans in mind: he wasn’t about to let her con him once again. The sight of Chiyo upon her returning to the Okiya was enough to send her mother over the edge, Lin blaming herself for being unable to protect her daughter, and holding on to a great deal of guilt. Chiyo, angry at everything and anything because of the position she was in, only further increased this guilt within her mother by constantly berating her among other things, pushing Lin to the point to where she ended up committing suicide - or rather, that was the assumption that all but Aguri was under. In reality Chiyo faked her death as a means to escape her brute of a child, wanting to put as much distance between herself and Chiyo as possible while continuing to keep an eye on things from afar, usually done in the form of letters from Aguri, sent in secret, that kept her up to speed on what her daughter was up to.
For Chiyo life was not an easy affair though she hid her plight as well as she could. While most people learned from their mistakes, Chiyo herself did not. She continued whoring around, her attentions upon the wealthy men, now more-so than ever before. She hoped that by ensnaring some man in her proverbial trap she would find a rich man willing to take her away from the Okiya, and thus the life she was forced to live as well as Mister Tanaka’s clutches. She found such a man in a young businessman named Jin Uchiha. Jin often conducted business in various countries, and was someone she had seen many times over again before her mizuage when accompanying one of her older Geisha sisters to various parties at the tea houses, and yet she had never spoken to him. Now though she made the connection, often taking assignments to tea houses or specific parties that she knew Jin would be at. She made her presence known, ensured that he saw her, and eventually he fell for her beauty like many others before him. For Jin there was no other Geisha as beautiful as Chiyo, and Chiyo used this to her advantage. Their relationship turned physical quickly, and she hoped that with her various skills as both a Geisha and a bedroom partner that she would be able to lure Jin Uchiha away from his current wife. Yet, unknown to Chiyo at the time, Jin Uchiha was expecting a son. And after months of their relationship continuing, and mere weeks after Chiyo found out she was pregnant, Jin spoke to Chiyo one last time, proclaiming that they couldn’t continue their relationship, that he could not betray his wife in such a manner especially after giving birth to his son so soon, and that he wouldn’t be pursuing Chiyo any longer. Devastated that her plan had failed, Chiyo hid her pregnancy from Jin, keeping the information to herself as she bid him goodbye one last time.
During the early months she simply avoided the tea houses that Jin Uchiha was at, not wanting to risk him figuring out that she was pregnant - though she planned on denying it was his if he did. But as her pregnancy progressed she busied herself around the Okiya. It was during this time, as she neared the due date of her daughter, that a new arrival appeared at the Okiya whose past was masked in secrecy. This woman, Mayuko, gave Chiyo the willies and she found herself feeling distrustful of the woman. What was more was she was frightened of her: the woman had a certain air about her that screamed danger, and her position within the Okiya as per a deal made with Aguri, was to be a bodyguard to the various Maiko and Geisha, instead of a Maiko or Geisha herself. However, as much as she avoided the woman, she stll found herself often stuck with her, more so after she gave birth to her sickly daughter, Marici. Marici, while born on time, was born with a terminal disease that caused her body to reject her own organs in much the same way a transplant recipient risked rejecting the donated organ. The doctors fought this of course tooth and nail, hoping to see the child survive, and yet her prognosis was grim and she was not expected to live long. However, Marici was a fighter, and despite spending quite a lot of time in the hospital she eventually became well enough to return home to the Okiya. Due to Mayuko having a child shortly before Marici did, Chiyo found that she was stuck enduring play dates between the two children, Marici and Mayuko’s son Nanashi. Despite all this time together though a bond that normally would have formed between two women did not form between Chiyo and Mayuko - there was a constant discomfort there, at least for Chiyo, that she simply could not get over. Of course, there was more than just that on Chiyo’s plate as she had to ensure that she kept to the deal she and Lee Tanaka had struck, having to help win him bids on the various Maiko he was interested in, both in her own Okiya and others all the while hiding well what she was doing due to the consequences which she knew she would face if anyone found out.
Of course, Lee Tanaka was unable to lay eyes upon Chiyo’s child, though he waited like the patient man he was for the girl to become old enough for her mizuage. Chiyo likewise waited for this date, as it would finally free her from Mister Tanaka’s clutches by offering him an effective replacement for her own. Knowing that Mister Tanaka would likely kill her if she gave over damaged goods, she kept her daughter close and became beastly protective over the girl, never really allowing her out of sight if she could help it. She ensured that her daughter’s training went well, giving her extra lessons despite how sickly or exhausted the child had been, and having to deal with the relapses of the disease that her daughter had. Everything she did was in preparation for a day years to come, but she wanted to show the utmost vigilance in ensuring that nothing went wrong. Yet, there was no stopping the friendship between Nanashi and Marici, nor the way that Marici seemed to favor Mayuko over her: often screaming when Chiyo picked her up and immediately reaching for Mayuko instead - many of these situations ending, much to Chiyo’s dismay, by Chiyo being told to hand the toddler over to Mayuko so she didn’t end up screaming herself sick. As Marici slowly got older Chiyo found any reason she could to keep the two children apart, doing much the same with the various other Maiko and Geisha within the Okiya, and yet despite her best efforts her attempts were in vain: too many people adored the sickly child, and would often chide Chiyo over trying to keep the girl so busy that she had no time for anything else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chiyo sat off to the side, watching her daughter play with Nanashi. The two children, much to Chiyo’s dismay, had been fairly close since the day they met - though it helped or so she assumed that they were the only two children that close in age ranges in the entire Okiya. If she was being honest Chiyo was quite a bit jealous of the relationship Marici and Nanashi had: Marici had taken lately to screaming or crying everytime Chiyo even attempted to pick her up, or otherwise attempting to run away and leaving Chiyo to chase the fast little child all over the Okiya. It was annoying to say the least. Yet, in that moment she watched as her daughter made her way over to Mayuko on what were now steady legs and plopped herself down right on the woman’s lap as she sat on the floor with the two children. Marici yawned, attempting to snuggle up right against Mayuko in a manner she had never done with Chiyo herself. Feeling a spike in her agitation due to her jealousy Chiyo stood immediately, crossing the distance between herself and Mayuko while reaching for her daughter. “Nap time.”, Chiyo spoke softly, trying her best to hide the agitation she was feeling within her voice.
Marici of course did as she had been doing lately, and immediately let out a single cry that led to a coughing fit as she clutched onto Mayuko’s top with her tiny little hands, burying her face into the woman’s chest while repeating “No, no. Bad. No, no. Bad.”
“Come on, Marici. We’re not doing this again today. It’s time for your nap.”, Chiyo would respond, her voice stern. The woman was still reaching for her daughter, but the girl was ignoring her entirely, not even looking in her direction as she clutched to Mayuko as if the other woman was her mother and not Chiyo.
“No, no. Bad. I nap with Nana.” Keeping her hold on Mayuko with her left hand she looked up and over towards Nanashi, reaching for him and opening and closing her hand as she often did when she wanted something. Yet, seeing her mother reaching for her arm she snatched it back and curled it against her chest which she pressed against Mayuko. “No, no touch! You bad!”
“Marici! You get your little butt over here right now so you can take a nap.”, Chiyo spoke, her voice more stern than ever, and the volume of it steadily rising.
“No! I want ‘uko and Nana! I take nap with Nana.”
Chiyo opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment the door to Aguri’s office opened, the woman leaning against the door frame with a sigh. “Let it go, Chiyo. Why don’t you run some errands for me while the little one’s sleep. There’s no point in getting Marici all worked up and coughing again; she’ll just end up having to go back to the hospital and you know it.” Aguri held out a list, watching as Chiyo looked back and forth between Aguri herself and the child who she had been getting angrier and angrier with. Yet, Chiyo knew that arguing with Aguri was a bad idea, and she snatched the list out of her hand before leaving the Okiya, slamming the outer gate shut behind herself as she disappeared. Aguri watched her go before looking towards Marici with nothing more than love and understanding in her gaze, before she shifted her attention to Mayuko. “Situations like these make me wonder what little Marici knows and can feel that we can’t.” Yet, whatever questions Aguri might have had for the child would certainly wait as with a soft sleepy yawn filling the air she watched as Marici snuggled right up to Mayuko and closed her eyes, asleep almost immediately now that her mother was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the years progressed many occasions like these came up again though in different forms: Marici wouldn’t willingly go down for a nap for her, would often wake up screaming and calling out for Nanashi or Mayuko the moment Chiyo entered a room, and during her stays in the hospital which were numerous and frequent when she was younger she would often get upset the moment Chiyo entered the room and begin to demand for Mayuko or Nanashi and for Chiyo to leave - and if she didn’t the child would often end up so worked up that the hospital staff would ask her to leave. Yet, by the time she was six a time would come in which this seemed to stop: either Marici getting old enough to simply accept Chiyo’s presence, or otherwise ignoring whatever gut instinct the child had that was telling her there was something off in regards to her mother.
With Marici calming down Chiyo found herself spending more time with the child, returning to having various reasons for the pair to be out of the house: shopping, getting their hair done, or mingling with people who would ensure that the child did well as a Geisha - if she made it through her mizuage. The stays in the hospital became less frequent, but posed a constant problem for the young girl. Yet, instead of this dissuading Chiyo from her path of using her child to square her own debts it just made her desperate enough to allow the child to survive up until that point: what happened afterwards happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having finished going over the first journal belonging to her mother Marici closed it carefully: she hated the woman yes, but this journal spoke of things that Marici herself didn’t want to lose or throw away. It was the only reason she had kept the journal, well, that and ensuring that the children had something to look at should they have questions. Placing this journal to the side she focused back on the children after pulling another from the box. “Now that we’re done with my mother’s journal we’ll start with mine. I kept a bit more detail in mind than my mother did; mainly because at that point I not only had less secrets to hide, but also knew how to hide them better.”
“I feel bad for you, momma… Chiyo sounds horrible.”, Zaylee spoke, her voice sad as were her eyes as she stared over at Marici.
Smiling gently at her daughter Marici shook her head. “Don’t feel bad for me, my little one.Chiyo was horrible, yes. But she taught me to be strong, and more importantly she taught me to use my instincts and to trust them. I knew something was wrong with that woman even when I was a baby, I just didn’t know what. Most people don’t trust their gut instincts, and ignore them after a while. Even though I became calmer around Chiyo my instincts taught me not to trust her, and to be on my guard around her. It’s served me well even now as a shinobi. If anything what Chiyo put me through made me stronger. It also gave me the determination as you’ll soon hear about that caused me to go behind my mother’s back and do something very naughty.”
Seeing her daughter grinning at the concept of Marici being bad when she was younger, she held back any more questions she had in favor of Marici being able to focus on telling more of this story as she opened the journal and flipped to the first page. Marici began to read once more, and Zaylee found herself closing her eyes and picturing the things her mother spoke of as if she were there; like watching a movie through her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day was warm with a gentle breeze keeping the air from feeling to heavy with heat. The sun was shining brightly while clouds lazily passed by that were fluffy and white against the light blue background the sky gave. It was a beautiful day, especially to be out shopping as Marici and her mother were: her mother was looking to have a new kimono made for her daughter in celebration of her upcoming ninth birthday, and they had spent the morning going from shop to shop as her mother searched for the most perfect and unique fabric that would do her daughter the most justice. Most would have considered the outing boring, at least for a child, but Marici had always been a quiet and content child and she was more than happy to accompany her mother on such a task: curious as ever as to what kind of fabric her mother would end up ultimately deciding upon. Besides, it wasn’t all bad, as she had gotten more than her own fair share of delicious boba teas to try out from various venders, most of whom knew her mother well and offered them to the pair for free.
“Is she albino?”, came a masculine voice from nearby, causing both Marici and her mother Chiyo to glance off to their right to the well dressed businessman standing not more than three feet from them. The male had been in the middle of making a purchase at one of the market stalls when Marici’s albino appearance had caused him to take pause in what he was doing. The eight year old Maiko was finely dressed in a beautiful stark white yutaka which had brown stems on it from which pink lotus flowers were in the process of blooming from. Her long white hair, which was pin straight, and which when left down hung to her waist line, was currently done up in a beautiful bun on top of her head, and adorned with a lotus flower that had fully bloomed. With her pale skin, and reddish-pink eyes she looked like some kind of demonic china doll, but utterly beautiful.
Instead of responding herself Marici turned her gaze upon her mother who answered for her without missing a beat. “Yes, she is.”
This information only caused the man to smile as he looked over Marici as if she were a fine piece of meat for sale, or perhaps an expensive painting that he wished to get his hands on. “How old is she?”
Once more Marici kept her mouth closed and remained silent, feeling slightly unnerved by the way the man never took his eyes off of her or even seemed to blink. To cover this up, as her mother had always taught her never to show fear to a man or uncertainty for that matter, she lifted her straw to her pale pink lips and took a sip of the most latest boba tea she had gotten: this one was pink, strawberry flavored, with strawberry boba at the bottom that added a burst of more concentrated strawberry flavoring into her mouth whenever she happened to suck one up through the slightest larger than average straw. “She is eight.”, Marici listened as her mother, Chiyo, responded once more to the unknown to Marici business man.
“My oh my, so beautiful to be so young. I will certainly be looking forward to your thirteenth birthday. I might even put my bid in early with your Okiya mother…”, the man spoke, more so muttering to himself than to the two females as he turned and walked away.
In typical fashion for her mother, who even now was dressed in all of her Geisha splendor, she waited until the man was truly gone and out of both eyesight and earshot before pulling her daughter to the side and kneeling down enough to look Marici in her eyes. “If that man ever truly does win the bid for your Mizuage you should denounce the path of a Geisha immediately, my little Marici. That man is wealthy, but he is a brute, and has destroyed many young girls following your path.” No more was said about the man, nor the barbaric coming of age and womanhood practice for Maiko, as the two continued on with their shopping.
Returning to the Okiya around dusk, a fabric having been finally chosen and on its way for delivery, the two arrived together with Marici being quite happy to be home. While the day out with her mother had been overall very fun, she was feeling quite tired due to her most recent bout of sickness she had only very recently recovered from, and there was the fact that she was still on edge over the very brief conversation that had occured around noon dealing with the businessman who her mother had later identified to her as Lee Tanaka. Stepping through the gates of the Okiya it was unsurprising to find Aguri waiting for them, having bid farewell to several Geisha who were heading out to a large party that had been planned for weeks. “Did you two manage to find a fabric you like?”, Aguri questioned, her eyes turning to concern as she glanced over in time to see Marici’s exhausted appearance before her gaze shifted back to Chiyo. “You shouldn't have taken her with you, Chiyo. Poor Marici looks ready to collapse from exhaustion.”, the woman scolded Chiyo softly.
“We did find one. It’s utterly breathtaking, and Marici would look beautiful even in a potato sack made from the fabric, let alone a kimono.”, Chiyo would respond, glancing over to her daughter and likewise noting the exhaustion that seemed to extrude from the child. “She asked to come with, mother. I think she was afraid I’d pick out something she didn’t like.”
This caused Marici to smile and shrug her shoulders as she slipped off her gata and stepped properly into the house with the two older women. “You like greens, but I look like a rotten olive when I wear green, so I wanted to make sure you picked out something that wouldn’t make me look even paler than I am. Where’s Nana?”, Marici inquired.
“Right inside.”, Aguri would respond, still eyeing the girl with concern considering the dark circles under Marici’s eyes. Both adults followed her right inside, with Aguri looking between the mother and daughter with more curiosity than before: the woman was perceptive as always. “Something happened while you two were out, what is it?”, she inquired bluntly.
Chiyo hesitated but a moment, staring at her daughter whose back was to her with a great deal of sadness in her brown colored gaze. “Mister Tanaka saw her today while we were leaving one of the fabric shops. She’s caught his attention, and I assume you’ll be hearing from him soon. He wishes to bid early on her Mizuage. He was utterly entranced by the idea that she’s albino.” Instead of adding to her mother’s words, or giving her opinion on the matter, Marici simply lifted the straw of her boba tea once more to her lips and took a sip of it, choosing not to say anything at all: she didn’t trust her thoughts in that moment.
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