Little Trinkets (Suzume/Rin)

[Rin Hayashi]

“I don’t think anyone would describe you as poor, Rin. A simple conversation is enough for anyone to lose sympathy for you.”

Rin just snorted at her words. He scowled, not liking the fact she was speaking his thoughts out loud. Like he didn’t already know that. Whatever. Good. He didn’t want sympathy from anyone. In fact, he didn’t even want anyone near him. So, really, it was good that a simple conversation would scare them away. No one had ever said it so bluntly to his face before, but in a way, as much as it irritated him, he admired her for doing it. He was a hard person to talk to, and that’s just how it was and always would be. He sighed to himself. At least she was honest. “It was sarcasm,” he muttered under his breath. “But thank you for your answer.” This time he made sure to emphasize his words more, the last sentence coming out with a hard twinge of sarcasm.

When the girl handed him the clothing, their fingers brushed. Rin drew away at the same time as she, though he didn’t seem to have as much as a reaction as her, as there was no blush on his face. Luckily, he couldn’t see the look she was giving him, otherwise things might have become a little awkward for him as well. Instead, however, he merely inspected the clothing, double checking that it wasn’t a yukata. As he did so, the girl spoke again, this time her words surprising him. “A little bit. I do pity you a little. But not because you’re blind.” His eyes widened ever so slightly, though the expression only lasted for a second. She continued to speak, ending by saying that she found him ‘interesting.’ Rin seemed thoughtful. No one had ever openly admitted to pitying him before. Instead they always tried to cover it up with nervous laughs. “Well, I must say…” he mused, voice thoughtful, “You are the first to say that. However, I must correct you, as I am hardly an interesting person.” His expression was unreadable as he looked down at the cloth in his hand. Surprisingly, he didn’t get mad.

“Does five pieces sound good?”

There was silence following the words, Rin frowned. He could hear the clink of coins as the girl pulled them out of her pocket. It was very quiet, very slight, but he definitely heard it. He had to bite his tongue so as not to say anything right then and there. He didn’t need her money. He could pay for his own clothes. Just because he was blind didn’t mean he was broke… Well, actually, he was rather broke, as the only coins he had with him had been ones he found on the ground, ones that people dropped and didn’t bother to pick up. With a quiet sigh, he reminded himself that it was less for him to pay, which meant he would have more coins left over for food. Still, she didn’t need to do that. Stupid girl.

Rin reached into his pocket, counting out five coins, and then placed them one by one neatly on the counter in front of the man. After he had set the appropriate amount of coins there, he said a quiet “thank you,” and then turned away, clothes in hand. He brushed past the girl, bumping into her slightly, and then started to walk away. He had only gone a few steps when he stopped and turned back around. He stood there for a moment, body turned in Suzume’s general direction, and then he reached back into his pocket, a scowl on his face, and pulled out an extra coin. This one was a bit larger than the others, and of far greater worth. He could tell by its weight, by the numbers carved on the front of it. Reluctantly, Rin held the item out to the girl. “You. Take it.”

He wasn’t sure if she had heard him or not, so he took a step forward, moving closer to her, and then shoved it at her, holding it in her face. It was not often that Rin did things like this, shared his possessions with others, however, he felt that this girl deserved it. She had, after all, put up with him for a good thirty minutes now. He had heard her giving out her money to the vendor, even if she thought she was being sneaky, and he wouldn’t have anyone paying for him. Though, what he was offering her was probably much more than she had paid. Part of it had to do with his pride, but the other half was simply a token for her kindness. “Take it or I might change my mind,” he demanded.

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[Suzume Inoue]

”It was sarcasm, but thank you for your answer.”

Suzume smiled at Rin, even if he didn’t know it. She felt her face grow a little warm with the thanks, but she didn’t mind. It was probably the first nice thing he’d said to her all day. She wondered again how much time he had to have spent in isolation to have become so stoic towards everyone and everything. She laughed softly. ”How can I tell if your sarcastic if you’re always so monotone?” she asked playfully. Now that they were moving away from the vendor, she was beginning to care less that she wasn’t acting very much like a geisha. Suzume wondered where it was that Rin spent most of his time. She had an urge to just hang out with him, as friends even. Just to hang out with him without all of her makeup, without the hundreds of sharp pins stuck into her head to keep her long hair up. Losing the five layers of kimonos would also be a nice change of pace.

Suzume’s thoughts went back to a talk she’d had with her chiyo only weeks before. Suzume had been gushing to her about a handsome young fellow with short cropped hair and a scar running down his jawline. Her chiyo had been at the same event as the man had been, and listened in a sort of revered silence as Suzume went on about his good qualities. Only after it seemed that she was calming down, did her chiyo ask her of his occupation. Suzume replied that he was in the military, and at that, her chiyo frowned. Suzume knew immediately why; people in the military did not often have high enough salaries for what Suzume, her mother, and her chiyo knew to be a reasonable price for Suzume’s danna. At that, her chiyo went into a long lecture about the pitfalls of falling or someone that could not afford her lowest price.

”You are the first to say that. However, I must correct you, as I am hardly an interesting person”

Suzume frowned. ”No one’s ever been forward with you?”b] she asked. She did understand why, but she was surprised to find that she was the first. ”You must not talk to many people, then” Suzume finished, more for herself than for him. She shook her head at his comment about being interesting, the ornamentation in her hair making tiny clacking sounds as they bumped each other. ”You don’t come here often, do you?” she asked. ”I think it was a week ago, at a tea house, this man came, and he had burn scars all along his right arm. I couldn’t tell you how many times he told the story of how he got those scars to young geishas.” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head again. ”You only have to be different to be interesting, Rin,” she told him, though she doubted that he was paying attention.

Suzume watched with curiosity as Rin walked away, then turned back to face her. Scowling he pulled out a coin. She had no idea what he was doing, until she blushed. He must have heard her pulling out her own coins to help him pay. She felt terrible. Men especially hated it whenever a woman had to pay. They hated it even more when a geisha paid, especially the men that disliked geishas. She knew that even if Rin was different, he was not different in this aspect. ”You. Take it.” Rin demanded, but Suzume hesitated, unsure of how to react. She looked at the coin in his hand, and frowned when she saw it was more than what she had paid. She sighed, not wanting to take his money. ”No, Rin, I could-“ Rin stepped towards her, and basically shoved the coin in her face.

Take it or I might change my mind,”

She flinched at both the suddenness of his hand in her face and the demanding tone of his voice. Reluctantly, she gently took the coin from his hand, tucking it into the purse hidden in her obi. She realized that it was more out of pride than anything else that he was paying her this. It had nothing to do with logic, or feeling bad for her, and this somewhat comforted her. Hurrying up to catch step with him, she sighed. ”I do have a name, I hope you know, and I am quite fond of it,” she told him in a tone of mock arrogance. ”Although my okasan likes to call me something entirely different,” she joked, referring to the mutual hatred between her and the woman that basically acted as her financial aid.

[Rin Hayashi]

The girl began to protest, but luckily she took the coin in the end. Good. He would have continued to insist until she had the coin. He was thankful it hadn't taken too much persuading. He started to walk again, expecting the girl to leave him alone now. He had given her the money, the small reward for her kindness, so what reason would she have to follow him? He sighed quietly, trying to figure out what he should do now, shoving his hand into his pocket and counting his extra coins. However, to his surprise, he could hear her footsteps quickly following after him. He pretended to be unaware of her presence, keeping his sightless eyes directed straight ahead, not bothering to slow his step for her.

Rin listened to the sound of the girl's beads bouncing as she walked, clinking together quietly with a quiet metallic sound. She said she was a geisha, so he assumed it must be the fancy pins in her hair making the noise. He started to imagine what they looked like, colorful, festive, small little ornaments. While he was at it, he imagined what kind of hairstyle she would have. He had never actually seen a geisha before, rather he had only heard about them from what people said, from gossip, so all he had to assist him was his imagination. He gave her a fancy and complex hairstyle, raven-black hair tied up neatly. He started to imagine her face, what shape it would be, the color of her eyes... and then he stopped. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly wiped his mind. He concentrated on the blackness in front of him, letting it take over his thoughts. It was bad to give people faces, even if they were made up ones. Then they would become someone, and he would much rather they stayed no one.

The blind man was silent for a few long moments, just listening, listening to the clink of the beads, of the chatter of the other people around him, being careful to control what his mind conjured up. "I suppose you could say that," he finally said, answering her questions, all of them in one. "I do not often come here. I avoid it if I can." He knew this would probably lead to more questions. He sighed. He didn't like questions. They never really led to anything nice. It was fine if he was the one asking them, but he resented being interviewed by people. It made him uncomfortable when randomers tried to pry into his past. They didn't care, so why did they ask? Were they really that bored with their own lives that they had to pry into his?

Suzume began to tell him a story. It was short, but it was enough to make Rin snort in response. "What a fool," he muttered, mostly to himself, a bitter smirk playing across his lips. Was the man she spoke of proud to have those scars? Rin wasn't proud to have his. In fact, he was very ashamed. True, his eyes were not exactly 'scars,' but it was the same concept. Unlike that man she spoke of, he wished more than anything he could hide those scars, but that was impossible with them right in the middle of his face, two blue orbs. "Scars are not something to boast about..." His voice held a hint of bitterness to it now.

Luckily, before he could get any more worked up over the small matter, the girl said something else. "I do have a name, I hope you know, and I am quite fond of it.” Rin was silent for a moment and then replied in a flat tone, "I know that." Yeah, he knew she had a name. Suzume. Suzume Inoue. That was her name, those were the words people called her. He just didn't want to use them. It made her more real, and he wanted to keep her as distant and fictional as possible. "Although my okasan likes to call me something entirely different," she added, interrupting his thought process. "Oh?" he asked, sounding as uninterested as usual.

As he wanted for an answer, he began to wonder something. Why the hell was she still here? "Hey," Rin mumbled, slowing his pace slightly. "Why are you following me?" He had his clothes now, and he had been planning on finding some cheap food stand. He didn't need any more help, so the question remained 'why was she still walking with him?' "Do you need something?" His words didn't come out quite as rude as before, and instead he sounded tired, like this whole journey into the village had left him exhausted.

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[Suzume Inoue]

”What a fool. Scars are not something to boast about…”

Suzume laughed. ”True. Unfortunately for him, he was a fool, and it turned out his whole story was fake. His wife actually got mad at him for frolicking around with some village girls and she lit him on fire!” she chuckled at the memory, and how after that, no one had invited him back to the tea houses. It was cruel, but Suzume knew that if he’d just told the truth in the beginning and joked about it, he would’ve gotten farther with that than some battle-heroic story. Those always unraveled fast. It took her a moment to realize that he may have been speaking from experience. Suzume looked at him with a new curiosity, and with a slight bit of pity. What had he experienced that made him talk like so?

Glancing down at her hands, she felt a slight pang of guilt. Despite her rowdiness in her childhood, her mother and almost every other geisha had made sure that any cuts Suzume may have gathered did not turn into scars, in fear that they’d be disgusting. It didn’t come as a surprise to her that her whole career depended on her looks; she’d overcome that shock long ago, before she was even a meiko. But for the first time she realized that her smooth skin was like a piece of parchment with no ink on it. It was pristine, and it looked pretty, but it didn’t have a story. She looked at Rin, at his milky blue eyes. Those told a story, even if it was tragic, even if she didn’t know the full story yet. Suzume had never heard of anyone calling scars something shameful. Was it because he’d earned his in an unsavory way? She somewhat hoped that wasn’t the case.

They walked in silence for a bit, the sound of the beads in her hair ornaments clicking together the only break in the silence. She glanced up at him, waiting for him to say something, when she realized he was waiting to hear the name her okasan called her. ”Oh!” she gasped. She tried not to laugh, but failed. ”I can’t tell you! It’s not a name one likes to repeat, you know!” she laughed it off. She hadn’t been expecting him to really want to know what it was, she just assumed he would’ve been able to figure it out. He must’ve been by himself to not be able to guess at some common insults for a geisha.

”Hey, why are you following me?

Suzume stopped short. She hadn’t been expecting that question. Why was she following him? She honestly had no idea. Suzume notice him slowing his pace, so she quickened her steps to catch up, the beads clicking in time with her step. Suzume had to think of something better to say than… ”I don’t know why, honestly…” she said quietly before she could stop herself. She ducked her head down, looking at her hands. ”I just… am, I guess.” she smiled up at him, trying to laugh. It sounded odd, somehow. When he spoke next, he sounded tired. Suzume stood up tall. ”Are you tired? I’m sure there’s a place you can sit down, or even some place with food!” She was glad to take the attention away from herself, and she laced her fingers through Rin’s hand, leading him to a place for food.