Since this is an alternate universe storyline, I'm taking the liberty of basing the characterization of Chairman Quincy Rosenkreutz more on the OVA version than the Fu Manchu on life support version from the TV series. Legend: "(...)" Japanese dialogue. ------ Sylia came out of the small library into the store, followed by Henderson. She looked around, until she spotted a familiar face. "Mackie?" she asked, walking swiftly up to him. He looked over to her and smiled. "Sylia!" He shouted, causing several of the patrons to look over as sister and brother hugged one another. Finally breaking away, she looked at her brother rather seriously as she touched his face with her hand. "Mackie, how... what are you doing here?" She then said in a low tone, "It could be dangerous for both of us to be together, you know." Mackie smiled. "Relax, sis. I traveled incognito. I doubt anybody would've even thought to follow me, let alone have the fortitude to stick with it during the five months it took me to get here." "Yes, but should Genom international... Five months, did you say?" Mackie smiled. "Sis, you wouldn't believe the adventures I had." "Well you'll have to tell me all about them. How old are you now, fourteen?" "Fifteen." "Fifteen? Go on." "No really, I..." Mackie was cut short by a young Japanese woman coming out of the same back room as his sister had just come from. Looking visibly distraught, she rushed past both his sister and himself as she headed for the exit. He looked over at his sister with a worried expression on his face. "Sis, who was that?" "Hmm? Oh, that was a worker of mine. One of the locals. Her name's Linna." she said as she tried her best to keep her concern hidden from her brother. Once Linna had left the building, she turned back to Mackie. "So, tell me all about your adventures, starting at the beginning. ---Later--- Priss entered her dressing room. It had been another long night of entertaining the rummies from the docks and the local gaijin from the military outpost. A fight had broken out at one point, her piano player nearly getting hit on the head by a bottle flying by. After the night's singing, she now smelled like beer and cigar smoke. She just wanted to get out of her work clothes, go home to her small shack at the outskirts of the city, and sleep. She closed her eyes, and saw Linna's look of shock at seeing her body again. She slammed her hand down on the dresser and gritted her teeth in frustration. What the hell did Linna expect her to look like? She fought in battles where her opponents used guns, knives and arrows. It wasn't like she was some type of disfigured monster. Linna's problem was she'd been too damned sheltered her whole life behind the walls of an okiya. She had given her a look at the real world, and she couldn't handle it. To hell with her. Screw her. Fuck her. Someone knocked on the door to Priss' dressing room. She glared at the door. She knew who it was without even opening it. She'd seen the big oaf once again in the audience. Shaking her head, she stormed over to the door. "Hello, Leon." she said, intentionally leaving off the -san. "Priss, I had to see you again. Day after day I come here, and day after day you turn me down. Why?" "You want a list?" "Now wait just a second there. I have feelings too you know. You could be a little nicer to..." "Hey Leon-kun, you ready to go yet? This place smells like cigarettes and urine." "Daley, shut up! Can't you see I'm trying to bag this dame... er... what I mean is..." Leon was cut off by Priss' door being slammed in his face. ---The Next Day--- Linna sat under the blossoms of a large Japanese cherry tree in the Geit Okiya's inner court as she looked at the large koi fish swimming in the artificially created pond. One large pale fish with a black mark on its back swam by an orange one, as she saw another face join hers in the water's reflection. "Linna-san?" Misae asked. "Proprietress Etsu said you'd come back for a visit." Linna looked up at Misae and forced a smile. Misae saw through it immediately. "Linna-san, what's wrong? Did something bad happen at your new home?" "Yes, I'm afraid so. You see, I..." she took a deep breath, and used the sleeve of her kimono to wipe away the tears starting to form in her eyes. Misae was at a loss. How could someone who'd been able to kill three men in battle now be sitting here in front of her crying? "Linna-san? Linna-san, if you don't want to talk about..." "I hurt someone. I hurt someone who's become very dear to me, and I didn't know how dear she was until I'd done so." "Linna-san, it can't be as bad as... 'she?'" Linna nodded. "Well, naturally, you don't live in an okiya with all girls without hearing about such things, I guess. Still, I didn't think you were like that." "I shouldn't have come here, I..." "Sit back down and stop being silly. Now how did you hurt this other girl?" "Well, she... I... Misae, you know how the maiko and geisha will often times share baths in order to save time?" "Yes." "Well, I was in a bathtub, and she asked to join me, and..." "And what?" "And she had wounds... scars, all along her back and abdomen, as well as one or two on her upper chest." "Scars? You mean scars from small pox?" "No no no... I mean scars as in knife wounds, stuff like that." "Knife wounds? My goodness, how did the poor dear get those?" "I can't tell you that. The point is, I saw this otherwise beautiful woman, with this small imperfection, and I... I..." "You drove her away?" Linna silently nodded, looking once again at the koi. "You know, you remind me of someone else who once was repulsed by seeing ugliness and suffering in others. Of course, instead of having recourse to a geisha, he sat under a tree and founded Buddhism." Linna chuckled a bit in spite of herself. She looked up to see Proprietress Etsu coming toward her and Misae with a worried look. "Etsu-sama, what's wrong?" she asked. "Yamazaki-san, the okiya is in trouble. A group of foreigners are coming tonight to the ochaya to be entertained, and most of the girls are down with the flu. I only have myself, Misae-san here, and three maiko." "Etsu-sama," Misae said, "Why not have Linna-san help?" "Me?" "Sure. Think about it; it'll get your mind off your problems, and you'll be able to help out the okiya." "Yamazaki-san, would you mind?" Linna thought about it for a second. "No, of course not. Let's go get my makeup on." ------ Sylia walked to the back of the McAffrie's Inn. She had a pistol hidden in her bustle and a small dagger in the handle of her umbrella. Her informant had never tried anything before, but still, you couldn't be too careful. "Stingray-san?" "You're late, Kuzui. What have you got for me?" "There's going to be an attack in the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa district in three days. It will start around 7:30 PM, and the British will be blamed. "Kiyosumi-Shirakawa? That's near the Imperial Palace. And they've planned it down to the minute? That doesn't sound like Rodger." "It isn't Rodger's dead. They've got some new gaijin here to replace him." "A new gaijin? Who?" "Someone named Brian J. Mason. You ever heard of him? Stingray-san? Stingray-san, are you alright? You don't look so good." ------ Mackie was sitting in a chair in the back library reading a book by Mark Twain all about a group of friends and the adventures they had overseas. As he was reading, an attractive young blond entered the room and, not noticing him, pulled a book on the shelf forward. Suddenly Mackie heard a mechanism trip, and a secret doorway opened against the wall. She turned around to enter, when she saw Mackie staring at her. "Eek! Who... who are you, and what are you doing in here?" "I might well ask you the same question." They both stared at each other suspiciously. "Yeah, well, I asked first." "Fine. My name's Mackie Stingray. I'm the brother of Sylia Stingray, the women who owns this store." "Brother? Sylia never told me she had a brother. How old are you? When did you get here? Where did..." "Oh no. First, who are you? Second, how do you know my sister, and third, how'd you manage to open a hidden passage in my sister's wall?" "I'm Nene Romanova. I'm a friend of your sister's who sometimes does... odd jobs for her. And this, this isn't a hidden passage. It's a... side stock room." Mackie looked at her funny. "Side stock room?" "Yeah, that's it. Side stock room." "Hmm... Alright Nene, I believe you. Sylia's not here right now, so..." "Whoa, hold up. What did you just call me?" "I... I just called you Nene. That is your name, right?" "How old are you?" "Fifteen." "Well I'm eighteen, which means you call me Miss Nene, got it?" "Okay, fine. Miss Nene." "Good. That's better. "Umm Ne... Miss Nene, I can't help but notice you have an unusual accent." "It's Russian. You're not going to make fun of it, are you?" "Of course not. I think it sounds beautiful and exotic." "Really?" she asked, blushing. "So tell me Mackie, how long are you planning on staying?" she asked, smiling at him. ---Later That Evening--- Mason, surrounded by his yakuza bodyguard, and Quincy, surrounded by his men, were both sitting in the ochaya watching the girls perform before them. Two were playing instruments as the other three danced. "Mason, when the hell are they going to stop tuning up their instruments and start playing?" "Sir, they are playing. Their instruments are supposed to sound like that." So far tonight had been an unmitigated disaster. Mason had hoped to strengthen ties between the native population and Genom International, but between Chairman Rosenkreutz insistence on shaking the hands of the Japanese instead of bowing to them, refusal to take his shoes off before entering any of the buildings, and insistence on using western forks in front of his hosts, he was very quickly earning Genom a bad reputation. The dance now over, the two playing their instruments continued to perform while the dancer with the large fan and another, slightly younger, both sat back on their knees. The third, and youngest, went to the single table in the room, picked up the sake cup, and began filling the cups of the guests. As she got to Quincy, he roughly grabbed her by the wrist. "What's the rush?" he asked, eyeing her. "Sir," Mason spoke up, "What are you doing?" "Look at it." Quincy said, examining the girl like a scientist might examine a bug. "How do you suppose such pretty little things are produced by such an inferior race?" Mason rolled his eyes. He didn't care anything about the maiko, but he did realize that Quincy was breaking protocol. He began to mentally figure out how much money it was going to cost to make up for this breach of etiquette. Genom International couldn't afford to make enemies with the natives, and if anything got out about one of the well-beloved geisha being mistreated, they'd soon have as many enemies as the rest of the Europeans. The maiko started to say something in a pleading tone, as she tried to pull her arm away. Quincy tightened his grip on her wrist. The other two maiko, as well as the two geisha in the room, stopped what they were doing and watched on with concern. One of the geisha got up and ran out of the room. The other one, holding the fan, stayed in her seated position and watched the proceedings, mentally noting the number and positions of the men in the room, as well as who looked like they might offer the most trouble should something happen. The yakuza and European bodyguards in the room suddenly started looking around nervously, not sure where or how far Chairman Rosenkreutz was prepared to take this. "What's it saying?" Quincy asked. "She wants you to let her go." As he was translating, the geisha that had left the room now came back with the proprietress. The older woman started talking to Mason, pointing as she did so to Quincy and the maiko. "What does the old one want?" "She wants you to release the young lady. She says in effect that you're out of line." "Hmm... Offer her a thousand for a night with it." "What? But sir, with all due respect..." "Do it." Mason sighed, and translated the message to the proprietress, who immediately turned red underneath her white makeup. The tension already in the room went up as the young maiko started to panic. "Etsu-sama!" she cried, holding her free hand out to her proprietress. The geisha holding the fan now slowly stood up and began making her way across the room. "Chairman..." "What is it now?" "The owner of this establishment says that you've made a terrible mistake. This isn't a brothel, and the young lady whose arm you're gripping is a girl of only fifteen." "Fifteen? I don't believe I've ever had a fifteen year old before." "Sir, if you're looking for a whore, we can always go to a certain part of Tokyo the yakuza run where..." "I don't want a whore. I want her. The fifteen year old. Eh? What's this?" he asked as the geisha with the fan came up to him and the maiko. She knelt down in front of him, and sat on the back of her legs. She then looked him in the eyes as she spoke in a low, even tone. Quincy looked over at Mason, who was smiling. "Mason, what's so bleedin' funny? What did it say?" "It's not so much what she said as how she said it. You see, just as in most European languages, there are formal and informal modes of address in Japanese." "What the bloody hell does that have to do with anything?" "Just this; in the most polite Japanese possible, this young woman says that she's sorry, but she feels compelled to request you do her the favor of letting go of the young lady, or else she will be forced to help you let her go." Quincy raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me this Asiatic tart is threatening me?" "Yes, Chairman Rosenkreutz, that's exactly what I'm saying." Quincy glared at the young geisha in front of him. He began to snicker, then to laugh. The other men in the room nervously began to laugh as well. He let go of the maiko, who rushed over to Patroness Etsu, clutching her bruised wrist. "Lets... He he... Let's get out before she throttles us with her fan. Mason, where was that whore house you were talking about again?" Mason turned to one of his Yakuza bodyguard. "(Chairman Rosenkreutz wants to go to the nearest brothel.)" "(No problem. There's one about five miles due east of here, in the same district as the Kirkland Delivery Stables. We could...)" "(The whose delivery stable?)" Mason asked. "(Kirkland, Nigel Kirkland. He's the owner of the... Sir, are you alright? You don't look so good.)" ------ Sylia arrived home later than she had planned. After her talk with Kuzui, she had gone back to Nigel's to check up on the progress with the armor. Luckily it would be done in time, though just barely. She poured herself a cup of sake in order to relax, and leaned back into her chair. Yawning a bit, she took a sip, when she happened to notice the figure watching her from the other end of the darkened room. "Mackie?" "Who?" Sylia's eyes widened a bit. "Priss? Priss, what are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" "Yeah, I do." Sylia's eyes narrowed, "I paid you already for..." "Truce, okay?" "What?" "I'm calling for a truce between you and me. I'm not here to fight, and I'm not in the mood to hurt you anymore." "Um, o... okay. Truce. Is that... is that what you came here for?" Priss looked away from her and out the window. "Sylia, I need to know something, and it's important to me that you be completely honest." Sylia tilted her head a bit as she looked at her former lover. Truce indeed. No wonder Priss was being nice all of a sudden; she wanted something. "Alright." she answered coldly. "Did... did you leave me because I'm ugly?" "What?" "Something happened yesterday afternoon, after the training session. Please, it's important to me." Sylia's initial reaction was shock mixed with sadness. How could Priss think she was that shallow? Obviously, the incident she'd overheard yesterday had affected her far more than she'd suspected. "No, Priss. I didn't leave you because you were ugly. You weren't then, and you aren't now." Priss looked away from the window. She nodded, and began to walk out of the room. "Priss." She turned to Sylia. "If... if you meant what you said, about the truce, you know you're always welcome here." Priss stared at her for a moment or two, then walked over and put a hand on Sylia's shoulder. "I did. Thank you." And with that she left Sylia alone again in her room. ---The Following Evening--- Priss entered her dressing room after another show. Once again, the scene kept repeating itself in her head. For the first time since Sylia, she had tried to open up, to make herself completely vulnerable to another human being. She felt better after talking with Sylia yesterday, but still... Someone knocked at the door. Priss rushed over and flung it open. "Damn it Leon, how many times do I... Linna?" Linna looked at Priss and tried to smile. "Hello, Priss-san." Priss scowled at her. "What do you want?" "I need to talk to you." "About?" "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. If I could take back what happened, I..." "You'd what?" "Well, I..." "Go on, I'm waiting." "Stop teasing me." "Am I teasing you?" "You're not going to make this easy are you?" "Fine! If it will get rid of you, say you peace and get out!" Linna looked at Priss, as a sudden surge of conflicting emotions took hold of her. "I... I..." She couldn't come up with anything to say that would fix the situation. She searched her brain for something, anything that might make things right again. "Well, I'm still waiting. If you're going to say something then..." Priss stopped mid-sentence when she turned around to an extraordinary sight. She had heard of the dogeza, the rarely performed act of self-humbling, but she'd never actually seen it performed by someone. Until today. As she watched, Linna sunk to her knees, and bowed until her forehead touched the floor. "Wh... What in the hell are you doing?" she asked. Silence. "Did you hear me?" Silence. "Linna-san, this is stupid! Get off the floor now." She wasn't answering, or moving. She just knelt there perfectly still, resting her forehead on the dirty floor. "Come on, this isn't funny anymore." Silence. Priss couldn't take it any more. She left the room, with Linna still performing the dogeza. She went outside, and took a deep breath of air. What the hell was that crazy geisha trying to prove? The dogeza was an act usually reserved for someone who accidentally killed someone's cow, or angered the emperor, or was begging for an extension on a bill he or she owed. It was placing yourself lower than dirt before someone you had either wronged in an incredibly grievous way or were seeking a great favor from. For Linna to be doing this would mean... Would mean she was feeling terribly, horribly guilty about what had happened at the bath. Once again, Priss began to search her own feelings about the geisha. She then asked herself; if it here her, what could possibly bring her to perform such a humiliating act in front of another person? Need? No, even if she were stripped of everything, her pride would never allow for her to go begging like that. A wrong? If she were going to start humbling herself every time she wronged someone else, she'd spend the rest of her life on the floor. Besides, she'd been wronged herself dozens of times in her life, and nobody ever tried to humble themselves to her before now. Money? There was no amount of money in the world that could get her to grovel at someone else's feet. Love? There had been someone. Once. Was that how Linna felt about her? She quickly went back inside the tavern. If she could somehow catch up to Linna, could tell her it was all right. Tell her she was sorry for being so cruel to her only a few minutes ago, that she was a fool for overreacting. It had been five, maybe ten minutes since she'd left the geisha on the floor. That gave her a head start, which meant Priss would have to use her mare in order to overtake her. She ran to her dressing room to grab a coat to wear on the way out, and stopped dead in her tracks. There, still on the floor, was Linna. Priss slowly went over to the geisha, and heard her quietly sobbing. She knelt down in front of her. "Linna... Linna-san, what do you want from me?" she asked, trying not to let herself get emotional. "Forgiveness." Priss reached down and stroked her hair. Linna permitted her to pull her head up off the floor. "Is that all?" she asked, looking into Linna's sad eyes. "No. But for now, forgiveness will do." Priss sighed as she wiped Linna's tears away with her hand. "I forgive you." She said, pulling Linna over to her. She wrapped her arms around her, letting her rest her head on her shoulder. Linna closed her eyes, allowing herself to be held for a minute, before cautiously wrapping her own arms around Priss. "As for the rest," Priss said, taking a deep breath, "I... I'm willing to make a go at it if you are. But I've been hurt bad before. Don't rush me, and try not to pressure me into anything either. Agreed?" "Agreed." Linna said. Priss put her hand under her chin and tilted her head up. She kissed her gently on the lips, before pulling her back into the hug. ---To Be Continued---
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