Tochi no Beeru (Land of the Veils)

II

II

It feels like it has been an eternity since I've been home. Three months since I've had any form of normalcy. This is the longest I've been away from here, and I would be lying to you if I said I didn't miss this shit.

As I walk up the pathway towards the front door I see a familiar creature sitting proud and tall in front of the window, his fat tail wagging fiercely. He barked loudly and ran towards the door. I slowly slide the door open only to be warmly welcomed by Yasu, my faithful bulldog. He pants happily between licks on my face and I laugh heartily.

"Ok, playboy, chill! Daddy is home!" I joke as I roughly rub his back. I take off my boots and continue to play with him. I hear light footsteps move towards me.

"I'm glad to hear that," a soft voice whispered as she moves towards me. I look up to see the one familiar, beautiful face that I've missed oh so much.

"Nana, " I begin while standing up, "baby girl it's been too long." She pushes her body against mine as we engage in a long, passionate kiss. My hands caress her skin like soft rain on glass. I reach around her curvaceous hips to give a playful swat to her full, fat ass. Too bad that damn kimono is in the way for me to get full access. Nana pulls away and smiles at me.

"I'm so glad you back, Shiro." She sighs. She grabs my hand and leads me towards a mat in front of a lit fireplace. Magazines and blunt roaches adorn the floor alongside empty pop bottles and bowls. I place myself softly on the mat as I watch her and all of her glorious assets saunter into the kitchen. A few minutes later she returns with a tea tray filled with a tea set, senbei and a nicely packed pipe. She stands before me in her colorful kimono. A smile lightens up her face, causing the glow to dance amongst her freckles and caramel skin. She sits beside me and pours me a cup and passes me the pipe.

"Thanks. Nana, I didn't know you started flying solo," I joke, picking up one of the roaches and looking at it. She puts the lighter to the pipe.

"Well, shit, I had to do something to keep me preoccupied while you were gone. My nigga, three months is a long ass time!" I pull on the pipe, inhale and then exhale. Nana takes a sip of tea and then motions for me to pass her the pipe. She takes a drag and then holds it with her tiny, manicured hands. I look her up and down and then grab some senbei.

"You good?" I ask between munches. She sighs and takes another drag.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She plays with my rugged beard. "I like this beard on you. Fine ass." I reach over and take the pipe. I take another hit.

"Hm, not as fine as yo ass." I grab her and pull her on top of me. She giggles and looks me dead in the eyes.

"Well, let me show you how fine I am."

***

We lay there, spent, naked and high as hell. Nana rests her head on my chest. Her fingers dance upon my tattooed arms. I rub her ass and playfully smack it, resulting in a giggle from her.

"I missed this shit," I groan. She giggles again and kisses me on the nose.

"You ain't the only one, Daddy." I kiss her on the lips and look around the room. My eyes are fixed on the magazines beside us. I pick up the most recent issue of Geisha Lately and I start skimming the pages. This shit is kinda boring outside of the nice colours and bad bitches with beat faces and beautiful kimono. I close the magazine and then pat her back.

"You still want to be a geisha, huh?" I ask her softly. Blinking slowly through rose-tinted eyes, she nods and then smiles.

"Yeah, I do. It's just... hard, ya know? I look at her, and I'm confused as hell.

"What's hard about it?" She pauses and gathers her words together prior to

"It's not that I don't want to because I really want to do this. I even started taking classes for dancing, and I plan to take a tea pouring class in two weeks. However, I don't think I'd be good at it. It's okay. I have other plans." She continues to ramble on as I stroke her hair.

"What plans you got?" I ask with concern. She giggles and then grabs another magazine off the floor. She sits herself up on my lap and then hums as she flips through the pages until she lets out a satisfied sigh.

"Look." She says as she passes me the magazine. I look to see a married couple on one page. The woman has on a white kimono and golden obi, and the man, who is kissing her passionately, is dressed in a montsuki. Blinking, I look at the other page to see the same couple in the garden with a child in the mother's lap. I gulp and look at Nana whose face went from excited to disappointment in mere seconds.

"You tryna tell me that you want to start a family?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. She nods excitedly. I look at her and then out the window. Has she lost her damn mind? Nana is only nineteen! Yes we have great sex, and yes I like having her around, but getting married to ol' girl? Absolutely not in the cards right now! Having a family right now would require me to be committed and my ass is not ready for that. I practically have a woman in every city I visit, and to be quite honest I wasn't ready to spend the rest of my life with anyone, especially her.

"Toshiro, you're twenty-five. Don't you want a family at some point?" Her eyes were pleading with me as I stand up and pull my hakama over my waist. I had to think of an excuse that would let her down easily.

"Nana," I begin as I hold her hands in mine. I stroke her palms lovingly with my thumbs and look her in the eyes. "I would love to start a life with you. I really would, and I'm happy as hell that you and I and Yasu have been living together. However, to get our life on track I must make sure that this veil business does well so that you don't to worry about anything. You're my princess, and I would never want us in a situation where I couldn't get you what you want." I stroke her cheek and she pushes me away. She pouts and then huffs.

"Shiro, you've given me more than enough shit in the past few years that we've been together. From my perspective you seem like you're making bank with this business. Yeah, you're not a millionaire yet, but you ain't broke. We're doing just fine!" I look down at the floor and twist my lips into the right corner of my mouth.

"Nana, we can't start a family if I'm never here. Shit, every time I come home you complain about how I'm not here. Imagine that and add a baby on top of that. You know we're not ready for this." A tear runs down her cheek and she looks away from me. I try to comfort her but instead she backs away.

"I'm going to take Yasu for a walk. We'll be back." She puts on a coat and boats and calls for Yasu. He yips and follows her outside, leading the way down the snowy path and beyond. A tall figure passes them and walks up the path and to the door. I watch out of the window to see Shinji, my oldest brother. I open the door to welcome my brother in. and before I could even say hello he barges in and shuts the door, locking it during the process.

"Toshiro we have things to discuss... in private." Shinji bellows as he leads me to my office. I sigh and walk after him, praying to Kami that this news wasn't going to be hard to digest. However, something in my heart told me that I was in for a some news.