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Who am I? [break]
I fell into an endless trap known as love.

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“Sakurako! You’ve been requested for a tea party tonight!” The voice of her teacher echoed through the geisha house. The girl would give a small sigh, as she looked out the window of her room. This was the second time this week that she had been asked to perform at a party, and the second time she was asked to host a tea ceremony in the process. Those were perhaps the most physically trying of parties, the required energy for dancing and playing of musical instruments was doubled with making and serving tea. It was rare for people to want to host tea parties, since it would mean that the parties ran well into the night, since tea was often served after dinner. It also meant that the performers were not going to have dinner until the party finished, sometime before the crack of dawn. The girl struggled to get out of her futon, dreading the long night ahead. A knock on the door revealed her teacher, Sakura, who she knew would seldom enter her room unless it was for something very important. [break] [break]


“One of the district’s wealthiest diplomats wants to host a party in the tea house down the road. He asked for our best performers, and you, Sakurako, you are our best.” A compliment that would have flattered her under any circumstance was unfortunately lost. She scoffed, gave the other woman an incredulous look before nodding her head. “He tells me the dinner party will start just before the sun sets. There are to be fifteen guests, but only ten will stay for the tea.” Ten people for a tea ceremony?! Izumi was used to five maximum, even though she had been trained to accommodate up to twenty guests at once. The woman looked at her teacher quizzically, her confusion apparent in her eyes as she reacted to what she had just been told. “I know, it’s not what we are used to. But I already asked the others to prepare the tea, the utensils and the sweets for the ceremony. All you need to do is practice.”[break] [break]


The girl sighed reluctantly, defeated at the prospect of having to practice before a ceremony was like a slap across her face. She had been training for years and was a self-proclaimed master of all the arts, and yet she would have to go back to square one because of this particular party. But Izumi would have had done so anyway, with or without the suggestion from Sakura, her meticulous and perfectionist personality traits prohibiting her to do otherwise. She would nod her head, bowing to her teacher before picking up her paper fan and her fukusa, a silk cloth that was used to cleanse the utensils during the tea ceremony demonstration and headed for the tea room. She nodded as some of the others passed her along the hallway, the atmosphere in the geisha house reflected just how important this party was. It was always this way though, when diplomats held parties, the geisha would spend hours beforehand preparing and practicing. One wrong move or misstep would likely cause their entire career. Such was the world of the geisha: competitive, perfectionistic and cut-throat. [break] [break]


She opened the tea room sliding door, revealing the tatami mat and the kettle that was already starting to boil on a small table. She brought the tea tray, which had a tea bowl, green tea power in a tea caddy, a whisk, a spoon and a wet cloth. Izumi would spend the next couple of hours practicing, each part of the procedure scrutinized, done and redone until it was perfect. Form, steps and beauty were the key points to a tea ceremony, her teacher paying specific attention on things like how she held the tea scoop or the angle of her hands as she performed. Yes, tea ceremony was an art, and an art that not many were willing to master. In the couple of hours of practice, her hands became accustomed to the momentum of the procedures, and soon she knew she was ready to go out and host the party. Her legs numbed as she tried to stand up from her seiza sitting position, wincing slightly as she massaged her feet. “Sakurako, your carriage is waiting for you outside!” Cursing under her breath, Izumi would hurry, shuffling in her kimono and tabi socks down the corridor back to her room. [break] [break]


“Do we have a run down?” It was like a show, and yet it was so much more rigid than a normal theatrical performance. Everything followed an order, with which instruments to play at what time and which dances to perform based on the needs and wants of the client. Geisha were required to not speak unless directly called upon, an unwritten rule of never disclosing any vital information that were to be discussed at these parties or else risk death were the commandments of the trade. She guessed that this was going to be one of those parties. Her teacher had come into her room again, supposedly checking to see if everything was in order. “It’ll be a four-hour event.” And that was all she got. Nodding her head, the woman would begin to change into light purple silk kimono, taking off her own black silk one that she loved to wear. The rule of tea ceremonies was that women were not allowed to wear too dark or vibrant of colors, the contrast of colors to the surroundings would create an imbalance and destroy the harmony that was supposed to be present at these events. As makeup was applied on her face, Izumi couldn’t help but think about what she wanted to do with her life. Did she want to continue living this double life? But if she didn’t, she would have to chose between being a shinobi and being a geisha. Admittedly, she was good at being an entertainer, one of the best in her trade. It was precisely that reason that she was summoned to these events the most out of all the geisha in the district. That much she was proud of. Once the makeup was finished, she would head out of her okiya, this time the sun had all but gone down. [break] [break]

She would ascend into the waiting carriage, readying herself for another long night of performing for a bunch of people who probably didn’t even understand art.

How she longed to be free...

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