The Geisha Who Could Feel No Pain (Secrets From The Hidden House Book 2)

by India Millar

  Akira was practically hopping from foot to foot in anticipation. I had never seen him so excited.

  “What do you think?” he demanded. “Will the patrons love her?”

  I thought carefully for a moment before I replied. “Akira-san, she is a foreign barbarian. Will the white devils not be angry that one of their women has found her way to the Hidden House?”

  A year of two ago, it wouldn’t have mattered. Now, the foreign barbarians wielded such power throughout Edo that everybody was careful not to upset them in any way.

  Akira wagged his finger at me and laughed in my face. “She looks completely foreign, doesn’t she? But she isn’t. I understand that Sute’s great grandmother was a concubine to one of the Dutch traders. Her sons and daughters looked to be completely Japanese, and they all married into reasonably good Japanese families. Sute’s mother had several children before she arrived, and they were all perfectly normal.”

  He grinned and tapped Sute on the nose. She blinked at him but said nothing.

  “Of course, her parents were horrified when Sute arrived. Her mother immediately offered to expose her, and her father graciously agreed that her mother could do so and stay in the family. So Sute was exposed. She must lead a charmed life. It was summer so she didn’t perish with the cold, and before she could die from hunger a peasant woman found her and took a fancy to her and took her home with her. Of course, rumors get about and after a month or two the peasant woman heard about the family who had exposed their foreign devil baby and she thought she might try and sell her back to her parents on the grounds that she must be lucky as the gods had saved her. Truly, the gods were on her side as her mother was so terrified that her daughter had come back to her that she gave the peasant woman a few coins to seal her lips and farmed Sute out secretly to one of her husband’s concubines who had just been set aside on the grounds that she couldn’t have children. And there little Sute stayed until I heard about the Japanese girl who looked like a foreign devil. She cost me a fortune, but she’s going to be worth every last coin.” He was gloating, stroking the child’s face and patting her hair.

  I couldn’t help it. I risked a glance at the handsome guard, who was simply staring into space. Look at me! I shouted silently. But he did not.

  “So, Mineko. What do you think? Will my patrons pay handsomely to take their pleasure with a foreign barbarian or what?”

  I stared at Sute in horror. The foreign barbarians had forced so much change on Japan, had caused so many influential and wealthy men to lose face in a way the foreigners could never begin to understand. The patrons of the Hidden House would love to humiliate this strange child as a means of getting their revenge. To Japanese eyes, she wasn’t at all attractive. Her breasts were far too big, and those strange eyes and hair and long straight nose made her ugly, but the patrons wouldn’t care. They would lap her up.

  I was to be her elder sister. And I could do nothing at all to protect her.

  Akira read my mind yet again. He smiled at Sute and nodded at me. “Sute. This is Mineko. She is your elder sister. You will do exactly as she tells you from now on. Understand?”

  “Yes, Akira-san.”

  Sute’s voice was a shock. I had been expecting to hear a foreign barbarian speak, but her tone was the normal, deferential voice of any Japanese woman.

  I held out my hand to her and she got to her feet at once and came and put her hand trustingly in mine, her face turned down to the tatami.

  “Look after my new treasure well, Mineko.” Akira sounded amused. Almost excited. “I have invested heavily in her. If you don’t look after her, then Ken here will be forced to look after you.”

  I thought, Yes, please! but bowed my head and tried to look humble.

  6

  Day comes after night.

  Until death claims us all, there

  Can be no difference.

  I had never known Naruko and Masaki to be silent before, but they took one look at Sute and simply sat there with their mouths open. Even the twins looked startled. Until I swiveled my eyes sideways to tell everybody Auntie was probably watching from behind a peephole somewhere, there was utter quiet. Then the geisha suddenly began to take an intense interest in their tea.

  “Even Akira can’t get away with this!” Masaki whispered, her hand in front of her mouth. “The foreign barbarians aren’t going to stand for it.”

  Sute looked at us, from one to another, appearing only mildly interested. There was something odd about her—apart from her looks, of course. I couldn’t make it out at first, but suddenly it came to me. She was like the twins had been when they first arrived. She seemed completely calm. But the twins had had each other, Sute was alone. I remembered my own confusion when I had first arrived at the Hidden House. Even knowing that nobody could actually hurt me, I had been terrified and had withdrawn into a shell of assumed stupidity and clumsiness. But I was Sute’s elder sister. I had to defend her, to look after her.

  “She isn’t a foreign barbarian at all,” I said firmly. Even the twins raised their eyebrows in disbelief. “Akira-san said her great-grandmother was a concubine to a barbarian and had children by him. But all those children, and all the rest of her ancestors until Sute here, looked perfectly Japanese.”

  That set the tongues wagging! Naruko and Masaki debated amongst themselves as to how that could happen. The twins pretended to keep their gaze down but watched Sute from below their eyelashes. Sute…well, Sute just sat there timidly, smiling occasionally but not speaking.

  While the girls talked, I took a good look at Sute. She was small, and—apart from those huge breasts—delicately made. Perhaps I was already becoming accustomed to her strange looks, for it was her kimono that really caught my attention. It was clearly quite new, but the quality was terrible. And the pattern was so bright, it was ghastly. Auntie would never have bought anything like that for us girls. I was puzzled. It wasn’t right for a young girl at all, and Sute was—what? Thirteen? Perhaps a year or two more? I gave in and asked her.

  “I’m fifteen, elder sister,” she said quickly. The perfect Japanese coming from those full lips stopped Masaki and Naruko in their tracks.

  “And what talents do you have?”

  I felt almost like Auntie, asking such questions! But we all wanted to know. Sute looked at me in silence, her face puzzled but hopeful. I sighed and tried again.

  “Can you sing? Play the samisen? Dance? Perform the tea ceremony?”

  Her face cleared. “No, elder sister. But I do have one talent.” We all waited, intrigued. “I can touch my heels with the back of my head.”

  It was no good, even the twins forgot themselves and started to laugh. I laughed until my sides hurt. Poor Sute stared from one to the other of us, clearly bewildered.

  “Show us,” I croaked in the end.

  Her face brightened. She stood up and bent backward.

  None of us had ever seen anything like it, not even at the kabuki. She flicked that terrible kimono aside and—in spite of the restriction of her tight obi—bent back and back and back until, eventually, her head was indeed touching her heels. She righted herself, and I nodded encouragingly.

  Sute promptly stood on one leg, raising the other leg until she could catch her toes with her fingers and draw it up to the side of her head, all the time balancing carefully on one foot.

  “I can stand on my head, and do handstands, and split my legs as well.”

  Oh, dear. I thought. That is definitely one talent that will come in useful.

  “Thank you, Sute.” I waved at her to sit down, and she sank to the floor elegantly. It was like watching silk folding. “If you can do that, you should be able to learn to dance easily enough.”

  “I can try,” she said eagerly.

  We all smiled. She was so sweet, so willing to please, it was difficult not to like her. The patrons certainly would, I knew that.

  “You can’t speak English, can you?” I asked as an afterthought. She shook her head.


  “Only Japanese, elder sister.”

  I clapped my hands for more tea, and Masaki showed her how to perform the tea ceremony. By the time we got our tea it was cold, but we drank it anyway.

  I didn’t exactly forget to tell the other geisha about Ken, but somehow I never got around to it. Perhaps it was the novelty of Sute that drove him out of my head. Perhaps. Perhaps not. In any event, it didn’t matter greatly because suddenly he was simply there. With Bigger, of course.

  The rest of the girls saw him for the first time that afternoon, when we all went to the bathhouse to prepare ourselves for the first patrons of the day. The two men were both already in the bath, lounging in the corner just as Big and Bigger used to do. It was so like seeing into the past that I hesitated before I got into the bath. The other geisha were silent for a second, and then continued their normal twittering. I knew, though, that they were all casting sideways glances toward the men.

  Bigger was grinning, as if the incident with me and Masaki had never happened. I had to bite back a sarcastic comment about him being brave now that he had his new friend with him. We all climbed into the bath gingerly, careful not to come into contact with either man. Masaki clung to the side and moved across with us, rather than stay on the steps, next to them.

  We pretended they were not there, just as we had done when Big was alive. But even so, we all knew perfectly well that Bigger was hugely, obscenely erect. His tree of flesh almost broke through the surface of the water it was so eager. I had to look! To my disappointment, Ken was also erect. His tree was of more normal dimensions than Bigger’s monstrous erection, but he was still remarkably well endowed.

  What a terrible waste! I blinked at the knowledge that this strange man, this man who obviously had no interest in women at all, had somehow managed to arouse me. Me, the geisha who felt neither pain nor passion. Ah, but life could be cruel.

  We girls took to our corner of the bath, our normal chatter muted. Only Sute stared at the men with interest. I nudged her and she immediately turned her attention to me, her face hopeful. She had been well trained. Despite her appearance, she was as subservient as any Japanese woman. She puzzled me deeply.

  “Mineko. Dear Mineko,” Bigger called across, his tone sweet. “I’m glad to see you’ve taken no ill effect from our little game.”

  I smiled and lowered my head, peeping from beneath my eyelids, trying not to make it obvious I was looking at the silent Ken. “I am well, thank you, Bigger-san,” I murmured.

  He laughed, although there was cruelty rather than humor in the sound. “I know you’ve already made my new companion’s acquaintance. But the rest of you girls haven’t. This is Ken, geisha. He will be by my side from now on, helping to protect you all.”

  The girls all murmured polite greetings. Except Sute. She simply stared at both men with obvious interest. Bigger decided to take offense at her scrutiny and slapped the water angrily. I grabbed Sute’s arm, turning her away. She had so very much to learn, and if she angered Bigger—and presumably Ken—she would learn the hard way. If she was very lucky, she might even survive the lesson.

  “You must forgive my little sister,” I murmured. “She has only just arrived with us and has no knowledge of the world. Sute, apologize to Bigger for staring at him.”

  “I wasn’t staring at him, elder sister.” We all gasped in horror, but Sute was oblivious and rattled on happily. “I was staring at his tree of flesh. How is it he doesn’t fall over with the size of it?”

  I could have screamed with fear for her, but Sute was simply staring at me in puzzlement. Before I could find words to grovel to Bigger for her incredible rudeness, I realized he was laughing.

  “Oh, leave her alone, Mineko. I’ll take it as a compliment. This time. But I think you need to teach her a few manners before her mizuage, or else Auntie and Akira-san will be very angry with the pair of you.”

  I nodded quickly. It was all I could manage. In any event, the bath had been ruined for all of us and it was only a few minutes later that we all decided to get out, leaving Bigger and Ken to play their games together.

  “Sute, you must learn to curb your tongue,” Masaki said earnestly as soon as we were alone, but she simply looked bewildered. “You can’t talk to Bigger—or the new man—like that. If Bigger hadn’t decided to be amused by your rudeness, he would have been within his rights to beat you. He wouldn’t have subjected you to his tree, of course, not until you’ve had your mizuage anyway.”

  Sute’s face crumpled and she looked to be on the verge of tears. She stared from one to the other of us as if seeking an answer in our faces. “But what did I do wrong?” she wailed. “I’ve never seen a tree as big as that, and I thought men liked to be complimented on the size of their manhood.”

  We all inhaled sharply and stared at her in disbelief. Sute had to be whole, or Auntie would never have allowed her into the Hidden House. Yet she was speaking like an experienced woman. I gathered my whirling thoughts and spoke carefully.

  “Sute, are you saying you’ve seen men’s trees before?” I asked. Sute nodded. “You mean, you’ve seen them erect? Like Bigger’s and Ken’s were?”

  “Oh, yes.” She smiled, obviously pleased to be able to be able to answer my question. “Nothing like Bigger’s tree, but I’ve seen lots of smaller ones.”

  We just sat, absorbing her words. Finally, I managed to speak.

  “How? When? Sute, you’ve never actually been with a man, have you?”

  “Oh, no. Of course not. My Auntie made sure that never happened.”

  Her Auntie? This was too much! I clapped my hands for the maid to bring us tea and cakes and waited until she had served us before I asked the question that we were all longing to have answered.

  “Your Auntie? You mean, you had an Auntie like our Auntie? Someone who looked after you, and…” I groped for the right words. “And introduced you to men?”

  “Oh yes,” Sute said quickly. “My Auntie looked after me for years, from when I was really tiny. She said my mother gave me to her when I was a baby. I don’t remember my mother, or my father,” she added wistfully.

  Things were beginning to become a little clearer. I explained Sute’s story as far as I knew it to the other girls quickly, and they nodded. There was little sympathy. Each of them thought Sute lucky to be alive.

  “And your Auntie introduced you to men, did she?” Sute looked at me as if I was stupid and nodded. I gave up and simply let her tell her tale in her own way.

  “My Auntie was a courtesan,” she said, as if that explained everything. “She told me that she had been my father’s mistress, but he had set her aside before I was born. My mother was very dutiful, Auntie said, and out of respect for her ancestors instead of exposing me when she saw what I looked like, she told Auntie to take me away and gave Auntie some money to look after me.” I drew breath to correct her, then changed my mind. I didn’t doubt that Akira’s version of events was the true one, but why force it on the poor child? Sute didn’t notice, her little face was serious as she continued. “But Auntie said the money didn’t last very long and she couldn’t find another danna to take her as his mistress, so she became a courtesan.”

  That made sense. A woman on her own had little choice in the matter. But it didn’t explain Sute’s extraordinary knowledge.

  “Was it your Auntie’s patrons’ trees you saw?” Naruko asked.

  Sute shrugged. “It was, at first. She put me in a room next door to her, and told me to watch through a peephole. She said it was a sort of game. Then when I had grown a bit, my Auntie said I had to help her make some money. She explained to me that if I were nice to her patrons, they would give me presents, and then we could have nice things to eat and pretty clothes.”

  We all stared at her garish kimono and tried to keep stone faces. Sute obviously misinterpreted our silence since she stroked her kimono happily and looked pleased.

  “Auntie told me I was to do almost the same as she did with her patrons, but she
explained to me that I was never, ever to let them get into my black moss. I could please them with my hands and my mouth. And it was fine to allow them to split the melon, if that’s what they wanted, but if they got near my black moss I wasn’t to let them go any further. Not even if they just wanted to seek the seed with me.”

  She looked at us hopefully and we all gave a sigh of understanding. Clearly, Sute’s Auntie had been a woman of great sense. She needed Sute to help her bring some money in, but at the same time she wanted to ensure that her virginity was intact. No doubt as Sute grew, she had calculated that her mizuage would bring in a great deal of money. And if Sute wasn’t whole, then there would be no mizuage.

  “Is that why you learned the acrobatics? To get away from your patrons?” I asked.

  Sute nodded. “I did at first. I used the tricks to get away from them when they were too demanding. Then, after a while I got really good at it and I found it amused them anyway, so I kept on.”

  Lucky she hadn’t managed to lose her virginity accidentally as a result! But one thing still bothered me. Eventually, we heard all the gossip of Edo in the Hidden House. The patrons often talked to each other as if we weren’t there. We should have heard about Sute—the maiko who looked like a foreign barbarian.

  “Where did you live with your Auntie, Sute?”

  “Osaka.”

  We all smirked. Osaka. That explained it. Not that far from Edo in distance, but a lifetime away in terms of culture and attitudes. To those of us who were born in Edo, Osaka was the back of beyond. A manufacturing area that had nothing at all to recommend it. Even the natives of Osaka were spoken of simply as gluttons who had no interest in their lives at all apart from how much food they could stuff in their mouths. Of course, Osaka gossip would have found no interest for those of us fortunate enough to live in the nation’s capital.