This story is dedicated to one of my fav. holidays (after Christmas) so I will hopefully complete it by halloween (fingers crossed but don't hold it against me if its not...)
ITokyo city, a place filled with the hustle and bustle of human life. Everyone has a story. Everyone has relationships, problems, anxieties, joys and pains. The city was brimming with life and growing more innovative in the concrete structures flowering above the grim stained streets then it has in the past centuries.
But…
The city was filled with death too, a dark side, with individuals that walk the streets at night, aimlessly wondering around, looking for a new meaning to their never ending existence. Those that are dead but also alive, thirsty for a chance to become human once again.
Yoshizawa Hitomi was one of these. Always looking for an escape but never finding one, after all what way is there to go when you are already dead. Her thoughts were filled with constant torments of her past life and she was once again at the bridge were her life had started and ended over three hundred years ago. Back then it was made of wood and arched high over the river, but after it collapsed it eventually became the beautiful concrete structure it is today. Cold and unyielding, a man made paved tool, to pour mortar over the past so folks would forget, but on still nights like this Yossy could almost hear the desperate screams of the people that had died in the collapse, 1,500 voices of the victims crying out to her, begging her to never forget what had happened or how she had let them down.
She leaned her body over the railings of the Eitaibashi Bridge and stared down at the murky waters below. Her arms crossed possessively over her chest. Her head bowed low and her chopped dark red locks lying angled across her face, touching her cheeks and hiding eyes full of anguish. Her clothing was a stark contrast to the clothing of the modern Japanese youth. It looked as if she was dressed in a costume for a Shakespearian play, a long black coat was on her back and stark white cuffs peaked out from the edges of the coat, revealing the existence of the white blousy shirt hidden underneath. For pants she was wearing a soft cotton material that was a tanned matte color, and these were held up by a thick black leather belt with a large silver buckle. Her boots were black like the coat and the tops of which reached her knees, she made a very romantic looking figure, leaning there.
Many of the pedestrians passing by gave her strange looks and once-overs but no one bothered her. She was unaffected by the curious stares, her mind filled with memories of the past. Little pieces of a life she had once had, and images of a girl she had once loved, a girl who belonged to another, a girl whose happy expression could fill her heart with such strong emotions…who knew that the last emotion it would bring would be betrayal. A bitter smile played across the thin lips at the first memory of that face…
A beautiful girl in a pastel floral kimono stood in the middle of the great wooden bridge smiling happily out to the river. On her shoulder rested a large umbrella blocking the sun from darkening the pale skin of its holder. Her hair was silky and tightly tied up on her head in the traditional style of the women in that time.
Ever so slowly that head turned in the direction of the eyes that were watching her so intently and she giggled at the funny sight of the pretty Japanese boy wearing clothes like she had never seen. Her pure smile became cheeky, "I've never seen a haori like that before, tell me boy, are you being punished by your family? Or did you lose a bet?"
Yossie ran a hand down the front of her abdomen self-consciously, her hand stopping to rest on her belly. "I…" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of the pier. "I help the foreign ships with repairs and supplies, then in return they gift me things like clothes, books and objects owned by the crew. The general's son gave me these…" A blush heated up her face. "I look silly, huh…?"
The girl pursed her lips thoughtfully, her dimples deepening, as she looked over the boy critically. Then she walked towards him and ran her fingers along the lapel of the black coat gingerly. Resting a hand there, she gazed up at the pale face covered with strategically placed freckles. She smiled up at him warmly. "I like it. You look like a western prince."
Suddenly a voice called out, "Matsuura-san! Matsuura-san, you're father is looking for you!" A young boy ran up and bowed politely to the dimpled pier girl who in return sighed in resignation.
"Okay, thank you, Nobu…" Matsuura looked back to the handsome freckled face of the pretty boy and murmured sadly. "I must go, but I have enjoyed meeting you prince and I hope…"
"No, don't go!" Yossy cried before she could stop herself. "Um…that is…I…"she floundered, embarrassed. The pier girl eyed her warmly and with open affection.
"It's a shame." Matsuura broke in mysteriously. She reached up and plucked a beautifully decorated comb from her hair.
"What is?" Yossy asked still embarrassed at crying out like she had.
Matsuura held up her comb and turned it back and forth. "That I lost my very valuable comb…"
Yossy looked at the comb in confusion. "You're holding it."
The dimpled girl continued as if she didn't hear. "…lucky for me, I'm sure that the kindness of a stranger will make sure the comb is returned to its rightful owner." Matsuura pushed the comb against Yossy's chest. "Understand?"
Yossy grinned and winked playfully as she took the comb from the other girl. "But of course…" Yossy's trip in memory lane came to an abrupt halt when a pink clad figure shot by behind her and ran to the bridge's edge a few yards away. Yossy looked over curiously at the tanned girl who crashed against the railing and was panting heavily and crying, wearing a pink dress and heels, one of which was broken. "Hey," Yossy called to her casually. "You okay…?"
The girl either ignored her or really didn't hear as she began to lift a toned leg over the edge of the railing.
"Whoa! Wait! Cut it out!" Yossy ran at top speed towards the distraught figure and wrapped her arms around the slim waist trying to pull the other away from the edge.
"Let me go!" The sobbing girl yelled. She flailed about madly and unintentionally elbowed the stranger in the head.
Yossy reared back from the pain but didn't let go. "Oh my gah!!"
"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" The tan girl turned in the arms that held her, to gently touch at the red, slightly swelling area she had smacked. "Does this hurt?"
"A-ah ah! Yes it hurts, stop poking it!" Yossy exclaimed covering the injured area with her hand keeping the other wrapped around the girl’s waist.
"Oops, sorry," The tanned girl grabbed Yossy's wrist and gently tried to pry her hand away. "Here let me…"
Yossy obliged and let her hand be pulled away, and watched with fascination as the other girl puckered her full lips and gently blew on the red, inflicted area between the temple and the eye brow. She did this a few more times before shyly inquiring…
"Does it feel better now?"
Yossy nodded quietly, both curious and charmed by the, most probably, demented stranger before her. “It feels great…” Yossy noted that the two of them were pressed closely together ‘…you feel great…’ she added mentally. She had yet to relinquish her hold on the beautiful stranger in her arms.
The girl seemed to notice this too and grew embarrassed, it was a funny expression behind all the tear streaks, and reddened nose. “Could you please let go of me now…?”
Yossy nodded, but didn’t open her arms. “Sure I could.”
“Well?” The tanned girl nudged Yossy’s embrace, which remained locked around her waist.
Yossy quirked an eyebrow at her playfully, “You asked me if I could let go, you didn’t ask me if I would…”
The pink clad girl rolled her eyes, ”Great, a smartass,” She muttered under her breath. “Okay, then…would you let me go please?”
“….nope.”
“What?!” The tanned girl was apparently quick to anger, the tears had dried and now she was glaring heatedly at her rescuer. “Why not?!”
“Well…no reason…,” Yossy jovialness turned to anger. “…except for the fact you just tried to off yourself! What the hell, woman?! And for the record death ain’t as much fun as you would think, trust me.”
Through gritted teeth the other girl muttered, “The name is Rika, I don’t particularly like being called ‘woman’, and what I do with my life is my business, I don’t need lectures from someone with a Shakespearian identity crisis” That said Rika began to struggle in earnest.
“Jeez, chill, okay you win,” Yossy let go of the other girl and watched wearily as she stood unsteadily to her feet, afraid that the girl, despite her composed outward appearance, would run a second time towards the edge. Not quite satisfied that Rika wasn’t going to do something dumb again she asked quietly, “Just…don’t jump, alright?”
Rika sighed but didn’t respond and began to straighten out her clothes, frowning at the dark smear of blood on her blouse, she plucked at it baffled, she didn’t have any injuries…
Yossy, who now stood next to her, cringed sheepishly. “Uh…ya know, club soda can probably get that stain right off of there.”
Rika’s head swiveled in Yossy’s direction and wordlessly she let her eyes drift downward to the slight gap between Yossy’s lapels over her chest.
Seeing the direction of Rika’s questing eyes Yossy quickly grabbed both sides of her long gentlemen’s coat and pushed them tightly together. Yossy laughed nervously and in a cutesy voiced teased, “now,now, Rika-chan, you shouldn’t let your eyes go there, that’s perverted~”
Rika wasn’t in a playful mood. “That blood is yours, isn’t it?”