Big Top Blues

cap'n coree

The crowd was hushed. They stared in awe at the costumed girl at the top of the ladder. The ringmaster stepped into the center of the ring.

"And now, the lovely, Madame Koi!" Torches were lit at the top of the ladder, illuminating the graceful figure as it stepped onto the wire, one foot carefull placed infront of the other. The crowd gasped. She delicatley walked towards the center of the rope, carrying a stick in her hands for balance. She twisted her hands and the stick became two. With another quick twist, they were lit. The sticks were on fire. She began to walk again, flipping and twirling the sticks with her hands. The audience was enamoured. She spun the sticks above her head before connecting them together once more, extingushing the flame, and reaching the end of the rope. She bowed, smilling and waving to the crowd now roaring with applause. The string was unhooked, and swings were lowered. Gracefully she stepped onto the one closest to her-

"Eh' Old man!" Mugen hollared from across the room, "Quit yer fucking blabbing! I'm trying to have a drink in peace here." His female companion giggled and rested her head on his shoulder. For the price he was paying she'd laugh at anything he said.Mugen had taken to buying not only sex, but company from the local girls. He reasoned that he needed someone to talk to, and he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

"Maybe if you'd listen you might learn something. Theres this new craze in the next town. Theres a circus from the West thats come over and been' puttin' on shows the last couple o' nights." The old man shot back, throwing a wadded ball of paper at Mugen's head. Mugen caught the paper in mid-air and flattened it out. It was a poster, with a sketch of a woman in skimpy clothes balanced on a swing. Below there were pictures of tigers, and a large wrinkly grey beast Mugen had never seen before. There were people dressed in flamboyant colors with odd make up juggling food. The top of the paper read something in a diffrent language, and underneath it read the times of the shows. At the bottom it read in bold letters next to the girl on the suspened bar "Now with the new Japanese sensation, the lovely Madame Koi!" Mugen looked at the girl. She looked young, she had long chesnut hair that fell to her shoulders, hiding most of her face from the viewer. She was dressed in a tight pink outfit with ridiculous frills and a low cutting neck. At first Mugen couldn't see anything that special about her. Her breasts weren't all that big, but he had to admit they were nice. In the tight outfit you could make out almost every curve of her body.

"Eh, old man, they got more girls dressed up like this?"

"Oh, eh? Yeah, tons of them." Mugen stood up, grinning like a mad man, and walked out the door, leaving his companion alone, confused, and unpaid.

"HEY YOU JACKASS, GET BACK HERE!" She screamed as he disappeared out of the teahouse, leaving her with the bill.

There was a large colorful tent set up in the fields next to the town. All around other tents were set up, and people were running this way and that, getting ready for the show. Mugen fell in with the towns people, watching the strange circus folk put this here or lead that animal there. Some 'clowns' were walking around the crowd, entertaining the children with mediocre tricks and jokes. The children "Ooh'd" and "awe'd" whenever they saw a large unfamilliar animal being lead from tent to tent, and the men stared lecherously at the young foreign girls shoved in tight-as-a-glove outfits.

Mugen purchased a ticket and entered the larger tent, where a few people were already sitting. The large ladders he heard the old man discribe were being set up in the middle arena. Eventually more people filled in, and Mugen, who had taken a seat in the back, was having trouble seeing. He pushed his way to the front and watched as a short man with a large mustache that looked like handles took the middle stage.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF JAPAN!" he shouted through a funnel, and Mugen wondered how such a large voice could come from such a little man. "THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE CIRCUS OF THE NIGHT. FIRST UP TONIGHT IS JING, THE ANIMAL TAMER, WITH HIS FEROCIOUS LIONS, TIGERS, BEARS, AND THE ELEPHANT FROM THE EAST."

A young man dressed in a white ruffled shirt, and tight black pants came strutting out, a large brown bear in tow. He carried a whip in one hand, and whenever he snapped it, the bear would stand and roar. Eventually he lead the bear to the center where there was a blue ball. Whenever he snapped the whip, the bear would perform some stunt with the ball. Then he led a two tigers out- then a lion. Mugen watched, unamused, only intrested when the man built up the balls to stick his head in the open lion's mouth. Then they went through a routine with the clowns, where one would hit the other, ect so on, with various thing. They'd do cartwheels, and fall on their ass. A young woman with long black hair walked out in a kimono and the clowns perfomed a crude routine where they tried to lift her skirt everytime she bent over, only to blunder in someway and get beat by the woman. There were firebreathers, and people who bent their bodies in odd- painful looking ways. But where were the bitches in the skimpy outfits?

Suddenly the young man from before entered, leading an elephant. On the elephants back was a girl, looking rather miniture on the large beasts back. She stood up, and bowed, throwing brown hair over her face as the elephant walked on. Mugen was immediatley attracted, not only by her slim figure, but she reminded him of someone-

He just couldn't tell who, and god dammit, from where he was, he couldn't see her face. She slid down the elephants back as they neared the ladder, and the young man caught her, placing her on the ground. She began to ascend, and Mugen fought his way through the crowd to try and get a better view. She took to the wire. The short man announced in his big voice, "And now, on the hire wire- The lovely Madame Koi!" She tiptoed across the wire, carrying a stick in one hand, but Mugen wasn't paying attention, he was fighting his way to a better position. Before he knew it, everyone was applauding, and he looked up, afraid he had lost her- but they were taking down the wire, and she was staying up.

Swing were lowered, and she placed a foot delicatley on one, grabbing the rope in either hand, she began to swing. The hair around her face flew back, revealing a familliar face, flushed with excitment. Mugen shivered.

"FUU!" he called. She looked towards him for a moment, but Mugen wasn't sure she saw him- and she fell. Mugen's heart began to race, and he rushed forward, trying to fight through the crowd to catch her in time- when suddenly she was swinging upside down, her legs curled around the bar. More performers were climbing the ladders now- And taking to swings. She swung towards another girl, who clasped hands with her and swung her above her head. Suddenly Fuu was spinning in mid air-and then another pair of hands grabbed her ankles. Mugen was getting dizzy. He feared any moment they'd drop her, and she'd plummet to the ground- No more Fuu. She was the clumsiest girl he ever knew! What exactly did she think she was fucking doing? Disappearing for four years only to reappear at a Circus from Europe? Mugen's head was buzzing.

"Too much fer ye', eh pal?" an burly man asked, clapping a hand on Mugen's back. "That girl's a firecracker eh?" Mugen resisted the urge to pummel him for some unknown reason, and watched again as Fuu pivoted from swing to swing, her hair hanging in waves, her face flushed, and her mouth hanging open, completley caught in the moment.

Too much for Mugen indeed.

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A.N. I know its a little short but I'm still getting an idea of where I want to go with this story. Right now I'm trying out a few diffrent stories and going from what I think does best. So far Of Silk And Lace I think is my most concrete idea, but this one sounds like alot of fun.