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Chapter 2

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A/N: This an authentic idea, but I did receive inspiration from two different sources.

One is from the book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

The other one is from myself when that book probed some kind of feeling in me.

People are discriminated by many things, and none of us are exceptions. It was not only because of my nationality and gender, but also for certain 'oddities' that don't seem 'normal'. I know how it feels – and I know how terrifying it is when people gang up on you, especially if you almost die from it.

I just thought that this story would express a few things in a selfish trivial sense. Sorry if I confused anyone!

But ignore this moment of my weakness if you will. All I ask is to please enjoy the story. :)

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I opened my eyes. The images of the past swam through my tired mind. I set my teacup down, the cooled tea untouched. I smoothed my pale hands over imaginary creases on my lap. I felt the corners of my eyelids pinch, fighting to keep the mirror in my eyes from shattering. It had been such a long time ago.

Moving my tea to my make up stand, I set it beside my brushes. After I left tomorrow morning, a maid would probably find it and carry it out for me. If not, I wouldn't mind cleaning it myself. Standing slowly, I limped slightly over to the mini alter that was in the corner of my room. On the ornate little shelf, my eyes glazed over as I read the tablet. It was no bigger than the length of my hand. I prayed to the name on the small smooth tablet with a family name carved into it as well as a first name.

Takiyama. Rumiko.

After my good night prayer, I looked up at the lonely slate of granite stone. Besides the small incense sticks and ornaments adorning my private memorial to my sister, a dried and extremely delicate flower ring was set on a white silken cloth before her name.

A pain bloomed within me, but I hid it again. I placed a small hand over my heart and imagined myself easing the beating muscle inside my bosom. The emptiness of suppressing such emotions welcomed me with cold arms as the pain numbed and died again. I was afraid of facing that pain.

Standing up on my feet, I moved over towards my futon again only to settle down for an empty night's haunting sleep. But before I drifted away on my night journey (through nothingness), I couldn't help but think back to the events after my near-death drowning all those years ago.

As I recall, it had been but a few days since that fateful incident. Rumi and I didn't speak much about it. I knew she felt horribly responsible, though inside I blamed her naught. She had only been the best friend she knew how to be and that was to protect my honor as well as her own. It was just so unfortunate that fate wished to deal us such cunning blows.

If it weren't for him rescuing me from the sweeping blue depths of our river, I would have died for sure.

But if I hadn't been saved and I had died, so many were the possibilities that my kind-hearted sister would not have had to suffer… Oh Rumi. My poor friend.

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I walked alone in the forest along the banks of the river I nearly drowned in. I thought despairingly about my injured friend as my thoughts buzzed noisily in the summer heat. Twining my fingers around the little leafy package that I had prepared for my friend with fresh onigiri, I continued on absent-mindedly.

I kept off the road nowadays, even though I knew that the other children wouldn't dare harm me anymore. However, that wasn't the same for their families. Rumor had it that I really was the blackest of bad luck, and it would seem that everyone wanted to avoid me at the same time as they felt like ripping me apart till death would take pity and sweep me away.

As much as I was ashamed to admit it, I was so much more afraid now. Mainly, I was afraid of the villagers, but I also feared for Rumi. It was no doubt that Rumi had also gotten into much trouble, for she stood on my side all the time.

Amidst my thoughts, I thought I felt a bad feeling tugging at me. I tried to ignore it, but the sweltering summer felt like it had suddenly decided to let a winter draft rake against me. Shivering, I hurried on to find Rumi. But thinking about her made me all the more worried.

As I neared her home, I smelled burning pine. At first, I thought her mother was probably preparing dinner, but it was long after noonday but nowhere close to suppertime. I wondered if I should turn back, but something pushed me on. I felt like I would let Rumi down if I chickened out.

But as I rounded the trees into the clearing where her home was, I had to stager back in fright. The house was burning! The fire contributed to the summer heat and it was no wonder I hadn't felt it until now. I watched as if in slow motion when a blazing tree nearby fell on top of the fiery house, crushing it in two the way I had seen the village kids crush small beetle bugs with sticks on the open streets.

At the same moment, I snapped from my stupor and ran stupidly towards the fire and flinging my small burden to the side, possibly spoiling it. But I could care less. I tried to break into the house, but my clothes caught flame and I had to step back when I felt like I was coughing up soot. But my voice never stopped screaming her name.

I don't know how long the house had been on fire for I heard no screaming, no cries of help besides my own. The wood splintered and hissed like it was in pain. The next thing I knew, pieces were beginning to crumble more and more. I was small and stupid, clumsy and frantic. Before I knew what had happened, a flaming log collapsed and crushed itself onto my leg, sending me into the ground.

My voice hollered bloody murder from the hot stinging pain. I smelled what smelled like pork roasting in a cooking fire. There was no doubt, I had broken my leg, but I had burns lacing up from my heel to my thigh. My hands burned trying to pull away, but it didn't work. I was clawing in the dirt until I felt familiar voices of the villagers calling out. Two people pulled me from the mess I had gotten myself into as I heard others run back and forth, borrowing water from the river to dowse the vicious, power-hungry flames.

My eyes stung with pained tears as someone began tending to my leg. I remember very little, except for the blazing pain and my cries for Rumi. The fire took all afternoon to stop from spreading. However, I will tell you the rest of the gruesome details I endured that day.

My leg had swelled and bubbled with pus, burned red and raw from the fire. The smell of pork was not from pork at all, but from my own flesh. My leg was indeed broken, and the village apothecary said that I could probably walk once it was healed properly, but not normally. I hardly despaired over this fact because as he carefully splinted my burned and broken leg, I saw a few village men picking through the ashy remains of Rumi's house.

I saw two large charcoal figures heaved out by the men, neither moving. The last one was smaller, and also not moving, the ruined spindly arms hanging uselessly down, the thin curled up fingers curled against nothing. Though the sun was getting low and the dim lamps were lit, I did get to see her face. Rumi didn't have eyes anymore though and she was missing the familiar swell of her round nose. Her face was charcoal black along with the rest of her small body. Only several wisps of burnt hair remained on her crusted and flaking head.

Her mouth was withered and brown, her cracked lips curled forever above her white teeth. I can still remember how her small white teeth contrasted starkly from the rest of her horrific features. Her body was carried away and though I barely saw more than three seconds of her, I remember her last image perfectly.

I passed out then and there, unable to remain in the midst of my burning hell. The last I heard was my father and mother's voices sounding very stricken.

I couldn't walk for weeks upon weeks, and my burned scars never went away. The villagers had found out that someone had started the fire intentionally, and as usual, they all thought it was my fault when the culprit got away. Some people held back on the idea though. Why would I want to burn down my own best friend's home? I was a child, and I knew nothing about how to star fires, etc, etc.

But others claimed that I could conjure demons and what not. They weren't true of course, but I couldn't care. That part of my heart just seemed to have collapsed on itself. I stopped talking to anyone who would talk to me. My mother cried almost every night after that, and my father always came home from the fields with such sunken eyes that I couldn't even recognize him at times.

I did gain back the mobility of my legs over time, but like the apothecary predicted, I couldn't walk very well. I could barely run for my gait was always never more than a limp. My parents never went outside with me. I knew they were ashamed. They had every right to be too.

To this day, I still blame myself for Rumi's uncalled for death.

It had to be many weeks later after my recovery when I was strolling (limping actually) by myself down the river's edge towards Rumi's old home. A small memorial was built there with her family name and incense burning inside the miniature stone shrine. It was not very elaborate, but I often went there to pay my respect and to beg forgiveness. Sometimes I heard her voice, but I won't go too into that less you think any lowlier of me.

But that day, I heard a two other voices as I neared the familiar bend in the trees. I remained quiet and peeked around the trees, staying in the shadows. There, I recognized Kuro's father and another man whom I didn't recognize. They seemed to be discussing something, and I heard my name.

My ears strained to catch every word after that.

"She could sell, Hiroshi, I'm sure of it," Kuro's father told him, "If you actually look at her, she is a very nice-looking girl with a unique color for eyes. Our village doesn't want her around for some of the troubles she has caused, however, in the city she could grow to be more wanted there."

"Matsueda," the man, Hiroshi, said, "Why is it that nobody is willing to keep her? Even her own parents did not seem to want her. I had spoken to them already about this as well, but my answers were always listed vaguely."

Matsueda shook his head, "You know how farming folk are, Hiroshi. We're full of superstitions, and many of us do claim that the little brat is one of them. Of course, I don't believe any of it. Still, the sooner she's gone, the better off the rest of us will be."

I watched the man named Hiroshi squint his sharp eyes, "If I do take her off your hands, how much should I pay?"

Matsueda's eyes glinted in glee, but he kept his face serious, "However much you would like to."

"If I asked to take her without paying anything?"

Matsueda faltered a bit, "I would say she was worth something, don't you? Maybe a few yen to help the village get by…"

"I see," Hiroshi nodded. He looked once more to Rumi's family shrine, "I think I will agree to it. Where is she?"

My heart sputtered loudly in my ears, and I almost feared they could hear it too. However, Matsueda carried on flippantly, "She will come home before dusk. If you will, I am sure the Ogino's would take you in with humble arms for dinner. Please, follow me back to the village, I will take you to there and speak to them about these terms."

The men started in my direction, but I ducked out of sight and held my breath until they were far out of my sight. Even then I waited longer moments with baited breath and wide eyes. I couldn't fathom getting sold anywhere. Did my parents really approve this? My eyes stung and I unconsciously rubbed my stiffening arms.

I thought I heard the ghostly laughter of my friend telling me not to be silly. But when I looked up, nobody was there. I shook it off as my imagination. Shakily, I got to my feet again and walked over to the small shrine.

Today would be the last I ever saw this place again. I felt it more than I thought it.

I knelt again and offered my prayers before standing up to bow and head back. But I stared long at the three smooth tablets resting against the shrine. No one dared to touch them, so they were left as pristine as if they had been set there just yesterday. My eyes had already overflowed with tears again and I wiped at my face viciously.

'Chi-chan… Naku-nai… Don't cry?'

I felt like Rumi was with me again with her friendly arms around my tiny shoulders. My tears still wouldn't stop though, and eventually I gave up and let them fall from my drooping face, soaking into the stone before my bare dirty feet. The wind howled eerily, and I could almost feel small ghostly fingers braiding my scraggy hair away from my burning face.

I heard a startling clack and I jumped, my head snapping up and looking around automatically. I followed the previous sound to the front of the small shrine where one of the tablets had fallen. Hurriedly, I picked it up and looked at the name on it:

Takiyama. Rumiko.

It was smaller than I had thought initially. But that was probably because I was small and everything looked big to me. I reached to put it back on the Shrine's stone shelf, but the murmur of Rumi's voice stopped me. My wide eyes looked around, but I couldn't see her. It was like she didn't want me to put it back.

I don't know why, but I nodded mutely and tucked it into the folds of my ragged clothes. It created a slight bulge, but it didn't really matter since the clothes on me were too already too big anyway and bulged in several places. As I walked away, I thought I heard her bid me farewell.

Hugging the covered tablet to my chest, I cried my last tears and headed back home. I paused halfway though, suddenly thinking about the river man for the first time in a long time. I had this great urge to talk to him for some reason and crept closer to the water's edge. The sun was getting lower in the sky, but I could still see the glinting water of the rushing river.

But I didn't know what to say. I just touched the water, feeling like I was trying to say goodbye, that I would miss him just as I missed Rumi. For the strangest moment, I felt as if the river was holding my hand. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but when I tightened my fingers, the water slipped away.

I knew I had to get back, because if I didn't, I knew they would find me anyway. I decided I would face my future the best I could. Though I was afraid of change, I had no choice.

Slipping reluctantly away from the river's side, I cast it a longing look before I forced myself to hurry into a fast limp back into the woods. I couldn't look behind me or else I knew I would never have left the river's side. There were too many memories there – so many that I felt my tongue stinging in pain and tasting a bitter taste. It was only when I reached the village and slowed down that the stinging was my teeth biting my tongue and the bitter taste was my blood.

I returned like I would any other day, though my face held a void look that I've now come to master many years later. No child should have had that mask, but I learned to use it well. The instant I entered through the flap-door of my home, I saw the Hiroshi-man from earlier along with Kuro's father, Matsueda, and my parents. They seemed slightly hesitant to speak about my departure, but when it came apparent over our tiny dinner that I had no reaction, the subject was broached.

And to my empty heart's dull hurting, it was true. My parents had agreed and Hiroshi paid a measly payment to them. I had no particular possessions, so I left immediately after my empty supper with Hiroshi guiding my arm with a distant look on his face.

But before we could reach the wagon driver and his cart, I stopped in my tracks, my hand holding the coarse cloth of my kimono together. I could feel the pressure of Rumi's memorial tablet against my skin just as I could feel the painful throbs of my heart. Slowly, I turned my head in my parents' direction from where they were seeing me off along with Matsueda.

There must have been something in my face, because my mother burst into tears and my father's shamefully gaunt face looked away in helplessness. I looked down at the ground sadly, before I felt Hiroshi tug my arm to drag me towards the wagon again. I let him, but I kept my eyes downcast. I would not face anyone with them, not even Hiroshi when he forced my chin up to inspect my grey eyes to make sure they were truly discolored.

The ride was silent, except for the clip clopping of the horses hooves on the hard dirt road, the occasional grunt from the driver as the wagon shuddered against some stray rocks, and Hiroshi's light snores beside me. The silence was what scared me and numbed me the most though – so much that I can still hear its ring in my ears.

But before we left the dirt road and turned onto the main road though I turned back to look at my disappearing village.

Standing on the darkening path behind us, I could see a small figure standing there forlornly. Rumi, her name slipped from my quiet mind suddenly. And behind her, I saw him. He stood tall and elegant in his flowing robes, his pale and gentle hands resting on Rumi's small shoulders. They watched me as I watched them draw farther and farther away.

"Goodbye," I whispered quietly, somehow knowing they would hear me, "Please remember me."

The wagon shuddered again and their image was consumed by the hungry night.

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"Please remember me," I mumbled on the edge of sleep.

I felt the ghostly kiss of a child's lips against my forehead. Briefly, my eyes fluttered tiredly open. I could have been hallucinating, but that didn't erase her kneeling beside my futon. She looked warmly at me, 'We do.'

Smiling in a bizarre satisfaction, I closed my eyes again, not knowing how true her words really were – as I would find out the next day.

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A/N: I absolutely forgot how I was going to continue this a while back, but thank god I got it all back! Now, I would like to thank the kind reviewers from my last chapter. :)

Thanks to: Eternal Memories , Kuroi Kitty , Meibou , monkey-see-monkey-do , My10315 , Tohrue , Touketsu , Yessika , A Devil in Heaven , Kurenai Chinoumi , I'm Illiteracy at it's Best , Voice , Royal blueKitsune , ChildlikeEmpress , Violet130 , Blossom of Death , LundiMal , Rae-Anime-Neko , Kill-All-Flamers , Amber Spirit , and kaliawai512 .

Till next time then

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