Golden Canary

Those dancers were really something.

They moved in such long and heavy red and white butterfly patterned kimonos with such gracefulness,like swan dancings.

Their slim,smooth and white necks and arms were so very translucent,not to mention their slender body that moved so smoothly with every twists and turns of their hips.

Their faces? They had the faces of fairies, with high cheeckbones, smooth skins, big innocent eyes, small noses and perfect soft lips, and framed beautifully with their silky long black hair that were pinned with white feather hairpin in top of their heads.

It's just that,they were not fairies. They were the young prostitutes from the most luxurious brothel in Red Lamp area of East Old Town, rented tonight by a rich lord in town to fill in the entertainment in his 45th bithday party.

Really, an old rich guy just didn't know how to spend his money. So,he made a party, rented peoples to make it lively, and invited his comrades over to see how he could use his money well.
He was an ambitious man in showing his wealth, so he rented expensive people starting from expensive guards (that's the reason I'm here), expensive meals, expensive maids, expensive pavilions, expensive geishas, expensive dancers, and so on.

Well, I'm used to party and luxurious stuffs, so from the beginning, I was only standing guard, bored and silent in the corner of this big luxurious hall with my comrades. That was until the dancers shows up.

How they were so amazingly beautiful really shocked me,for I heard the fact that they were from the most luxurious brothel in East Old Town, and that means TenRai yotogi-ya.

What's more, TenRai Yotogi-ya is a male brothel.

Even the beautiful geishas that swarmed in this hall from the beginning didn't catch my eyes as much as each of the dancers did. But maybe, that's because of the shock that in reality, there are males in this world who are blessed with too much beauty as well. Even the geishas looked surprised, they were looking with such huge unblinking eyes to them. My comrades were merely giggling, and whispering that they were lucky enough to see some of the world's expensive wonder creatures with their own eyes tonight.

It was such a surprise for the guests too, for they were becoming noisier from the moment the dancers showed up. They were whistling, clapping, laughing and howling with large eyes and typical red drunken faces. The dancers, however, seemed unaffected. As the cadence became more heated, they danced faster and took their arms out their outer kimonos, showing more of their slender necks with their low collared under kimonos. With peacock feathered fans on their right hands and the end ribbon of their obis in left hands, they were swirling around in front of the guests, showing more of their smooth white legs with such thin ankles.

I never see geishas dance like that, with such ryhtym and power, but still full of gracefullness and beauty. Give them naginatas and tengu masks, and we'll have the most expensive kabuki dancers like the ones I once saw in daikan's place. Only these ones will be much younger, much shorter, much slender, and much more pretty faced.

And did I say more seductive as well? Because I didn't think the other drunken guests will take their dance simply as wonderful, but simply as seductively alluring. I knew the guests are merely old men with little grandchildrens, but mostly, sakes have more powerful effects on old people on the wrongest times.

It looks like I'm right, for suddenly, one of the guests, a burly man almost 50 years old, stood up, walked to the front, and grab one of the 8 dancers."Come with me",he ordered and without any second look to the dancer's face, he simply dragged him away to the door. The dancer looked like the smallest and the youngest one in the group, and merely looked at his captor with such huge eyes filled with shock, uncertainty, and from my point of view, fear.

The guests? Instead of helping, they added gasoline to the fire, shouting comments like :" Straight to the point already?!", "That's the best choice, Gennan-sama!", "Tell us later whether he's worth it!", et cetera. well, I felt pity for the little dancer, but I was not ordered to guard the dancers, but to guard the guests. And my master seemed happy that his spending-money-choice-on-expensive-male-prostitutes didn't go to waste, looking from how he simply laughed, grab the nearest geisha and commented :"You have my full permission,just tell me later if he's any sweeter than a girl!".

Looks like the little dancer finally realized what would befall upon him, for he started to dug in his heels and tried to push his captor's hand off his arm. The so called Gennan-sama only looked back for one second,said, "Don't worry. You are paid for this, aren't you?" and continued dragging him out of the hall. Seeing how futile his attempts to get free, the little dancer looked back to the other dancers with pleading eyes. But his friends were merely standing silent and avoiding his gaze, while the guests continued shouting : "Don't be rough on him!", "Don't make him cry!", "Don't make it hurt!", those kinds of lewd comments.

One of my comrades leaned to me and said :"It looks like there's little empathy between male prostitutes,eh? Well,they are males, so they can't get anything degradating their values".
I frowned to him and said,"He is still a child,you see. Won't it be considered rape?"
He laughed."Kei-kun,as far as I know, what's so called rape involve men and women. He is a boy, and a boy isn't a woman. And he is a whore, an expensive one also. That's not a rape when you're paid to do it. Moreover, he's on a ready age, being a kotori, that's why he's allowed to show his face in public."
"Kotori?"
"I once heard that YotogiYa categories its whores. The youngest ones are Kotoris, from 10 to 14 years old. The ones of 15 to 19 years old are called Kanaria. More than that, Kamome. Expensive Kanaria are called Hummingbird. And.."
"That's so very ridiculous." And why using birds' names? But, in the beginning, TenRai YoyogiYa is one ridiculous name too.
"Ridiculous,eh? But it helps in picking your choice, based on your preferism and your money. You see,those dancers are merely Kotori and Kanaria. They are beautiful,eh? I heard there are more expensive categories, and those are more beautiful than them."
"You really seem to know a lot about this, Yoshi-san. Did you come to the brothel?"
"I have a friend working there, as a guard, though."
"Well, tell your friend to stand guard everywhere and everytime his dancers are going to a show, so this kind of things won't happen again. This sucks, you see.."

Suddenly, one of the remaining dancers, the taller one with large brown eyes and apple square face, run away from his flock and approached Gennan-sama and the little dancer,while calling out with such soft silky voice:"Please wait, good sire!"

So soft his voice was, so that Gennan-sama didn't hear it or pretended not to hear it.

Yoshi-san commented :"Uh oh,a whore playing hero,is it?"

The taller dancer seemed not to taken aback. Instead, he run to Gennan-sama's side, grab his other hand, looked straight to his face and said aloud,"Please wait, good sire".
Gennan-sama, feeling disturbed, swayed free his hand and remarked ,"What is it?!"
"Please, pardon my intrusion, Sir. We are merely dancers tonight, so..."
"Eeh? From my point of view, you are prostitutes posing as dancers tonight. You better not playing fool to your guests, boy. Doesn't your benefactor tell you that customers are kings?"
"Yes, that is right, Sir. He also told us that customers are always right."
"So,don't stand in my way!"
"But Sir, I don't mean to stand in your way. I just want to tell you that your choice here is one so young and unexperienced, and he is mute also. And specifically, he isn't ready to perform other than as a dancer tonight."

That caught Gennan-sama's attention. He stopped in his track and looked back to his little prey who looked at his taller friend with watery eyes. Poor kid, Gennan-sama really scared him, for realizing his stare, he became paler and quickly dropped his gaze to the floor.

"So,you're saying that he is merely a mute baby?"
"That's right, Sir. This is his first appearance in public. I'm just trying to make sure that you won't be dissapointed with our house by specifying your choice".
"Well, you think you can give me one rightful choice? You seem so high of yourself, justifying your guest's behaviour right up front like that."

This is bad. You know, there are men in this world who don't like to be judged up front by people they considered lower than themselves. Moreover, in front of their comrades also. One of the guests howled:"You're so popular,Gennan! 2 birds in a row!", and this enticed more laughter and whistles from the others.

The taller dancer, realizing that his actions might offend Gennan-sama,bowed and whisper,"Please forgive my harshness, my lord".
Hearing this, Gennan-sama smirked and whisper to his ear,"You have to pay a lLOT for this kind of behaviour, whore. How old are you?"
"I'm 19 years old, my lord."
"Hm,too old for my taste. I might have sue your brothel for your offends tonight, unless you can reprimand yourself".
"I'm...That won't be necessary, my lord. I certanly can offer you services only older people have by experience".
"Clever whore",said Gennan-sama, and released his little prey. "You'd better show me the best of you tonight", grab the taller dancer's upper arm and dragged him away. The little one, shocked, kept looking at them with such huge eyes, until one of the remaining dancers called out to him, "Iku-chan!" and he run back to his flock.

Yoshi-san leaned to my side and asked,"What did he say?"
Thanks to my ability in lip reading, I knew what were their latest conversation about, "He sacrificed himself to safe his little friend".

He laughed,"You're too naive, Kei-kun. From what I saw, he offered himself in order to snatch a guest from his little friend. There is fierce competition in prostitution world too, you know".

Now I felt more pity for the taller dancer. His sacrificion was considered merely as a whorish action by other people. Soon, my master stood up and excalimed, "See,Gennan has already established an example!Let's enjoy yourself to your hearts' contents, friends! Make tonight a special one!" and thus the party went on till past midnight and every guests fell asleep right in the pavilion or in the rooms with their geishas.