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The pitter-patter droplets of heavy rain drenched the dirt roads alternated into heaps of mud; noiselessness blanketed the area since shops were closed for business during eve. A vast of empty streets; there was no trace of humans exceptional of unearthly beady red eyes in the deep shadows of the alleyway that reek of urine and wastrel. A streak of lightning momentarily tinges in a flutter of the ominous glare of whitebeam followed by a clap of thunder.

Situated at Yoshiwara district; prostitutes and drunkards made up the boisterous vicinity. Even though the downpour affected the flesh business yet in several brothels, merry voices sung infused by the intoxication and the lilt of female vocals abreast with their male counterpart. Sake sploshed generously while the geisha entertained their customers under the chilly weather.

Hidden in the depths of inky blackness, a flurry of footsteps bounced in agility and slush of puddles soaked their hakama. Their feet encased in straw sandals.

Neither of the men whose expression wrought tremor to any being was affected by the bitter draft. There wasnt a hint of disconcerted due to the wet condition as their kimonos clung to their bodies like a second skin. The band of men were out for blood and these particular group had their diligent target on a teahouse. The ominous ringing as their blades expertly glides out of the scabbard. Dutifully, the gangsters abide by the rules and waited for the signal to attack from their captain.

The alleged figure assumed as the superior gave a slight nod and the faceless ronins gaited forward in measured steps instead to darted blindly headlong.

****

A juvenile attired in tattered kimono sheltered the emaciated frame, she trudged on the open street undeterred of her safeness. Habituated in the style of living as a street rat, she tracked for a handout or look into cart boxes set aside as rubbish.

Tonight, she reciprocated as every other day in anticipation for leftover morsels to ease the hunger pang. Even when the thunder rumbled in ferocity, an indication the lightning had struck a sapling nearby but the female continued on her nightly routine under the bad weather. A tabby mewled in acknowledgement as the stray feline gnawed on a fish skeleton in which garnered the humans attention; she gamely squatted and the cloth slipped a little to a visible knee. In a blink of an eye, the child snatched the remaining bones of the only dinner in sight.

The startled cat scattered away in fits of yowl and hissed toward the newcomer before it moved on to another part of the town. She suckled on the skeletal with aftertaste from the cat's saliva in which tingled the girl's tongue; albeit grateful for the scavenge.

Just then, a distant cry alerted the scraggly girl, she twisted on her bare feet to jerk a blonde head upward to acknowledge the moonless sky. Since she was somewhat close to the red light section. An unlikely place for an orphan to casually roamed about and her sleep quarter directly below a wide window of a brothel house.

Every night, a voyeuristic figure, she was entertained by the jovial customers and surreptitiously peeked at the wild camaraderies of either singing or dancing geisha as a sort of distraction. The girl eavesdrop on adults conversation although she had no clue whatsoever.

At her hearts desire, the street rat would impersonate a geisha's dance routine from birds eye view of any drunk customers, thankfully the young women of the Yoshiwara district had taken a liking to the pitiful orphan. Occasionally, they provided cooked meals without the consent of their strict supervisors.

On unfortunate event, the madam of the brothel who was the least fond of the stray attacked her with a switch that would mark red welts on the frail body. Since there was no medicine at hand, dried blood stuck on the cloth and she would yelp in agony. The dangerous street was her only home; the idea that she would be raped never flitted in her childish mindset.

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