But that moment only lasted for a few pathetic seconds as Kimiko breaks the gaze and focuses her attention on the young maiko. Chase strained his ears to hear her voice instructing the apprentice on how to properly greet patrons. That soft, delicate voice that sounded like chimes that tinkled when the breeze came along. That voice which he first heard a year ago, when he brushed paths with the alluring geisha.

It was on his 24th birthday that a bunch of his friends and him decided to visit Yoshiwara for a special celebration. His friends had intended to find a good courtesan for him to play around with, but Chase held his ground, morals and ideals still firmly in place in his sober brain that night. After finding out that their initial plan was unsuccessful, his visibly disappointed friends hatched another plan. A plan which involved heading to a famed teahouse where geisha entertained their patrons. They were planning to find one or a few to entertain all of them.

Because of Chase's ties with the lady in charge of the teahouse, they were immediately granted access inside the teahouse; waltzing past hopeful commoners or foreigners trying their luck to enter the exclusive teahouse. It wasn't famous for nothing, high end geisha and their maiko were often spotted roaming around in the teahouse, flitting through various rooms for a maximum of an hour or so; entertaining wealthy guests with their shamisen playing and dances.

The lady had offered a list of geisha that were present in her teahouse, his friends had shoved him to one side, telling him that their entertainer should be a surprise for him. Though Chase was pretty ticked off, he couldn't help but feel excited as well.

They were then ushered into a medium sized room, with a strong smell of peach and pinewood lingering in the air and an elaborately drawn sakura tree that stretched from one corner of the room to the other. Chase remembered sliding the paper wood door shut and settling down on the mat in a lotus position; directly opposite the geisha and her maiko that were to be their entertainers for that night.

The geisha that his friends had hired was pretty well known in Yoshiwara, probably second in the entire geisha population in popularity. Her name was Yuzuko, a fairly beautiful geisha with sharp defined cheekbones with a v-shaped chin, wide doe like eyes that flutter slightly every few minutes and a small coy like smile which she gave whenever she teased or flirted with Chase and his friends. But as his friends played and watched Yuzuko play with her shamisen, Chase was more entranced by the maiko that sat neatly in her place, her hands folded and tucked on her lap as she stared at her onee-san intently.

She almost had the same features as Yuzuko, her facial shape was defined and her jaw was sleek, making her chin appear to have an obvious v-shape. Though her eyes were not as wide and huge as Yuzuko's they were bright and attentive as well. Not only that, but her eyes had a certain specialty to it, they weren't the dark orbs that many people had. But they were a shade of sapphire blue, the shade of blue that almost illuminated the already brightly lit room with its vibrancy and youth. Her lips were plump and full and they were smeared with red lipstick which Chase thought looked strange on her. She didn't suit the red lipstick at all, and he had imagined her for a brief moment with pinkish ones instead.

He remembers leaning across the table and asking her quietly what her name was, how startled she looked when she realized that someone was acknowledging her presence. He chuckled inwardly at her shy exterior as she fumbled for words, before she broke out into a warm smile which made his heart flutter and melt and a voice which he could listen to again and again. It was a voice which he felt that could comfort him in the darkest of nights and turbulent days. A voice filled with childish innocence yet wisdom at the same time.

"My name is Kimiko, Chase-sama,"

And Chase blinks away this memory away and focuses on Kimiko and her apprentice walking away from him and into a teahouse. He finds himself standing up from his seat and follows them just a few minutes later.

He takes a deep breath and a gulp before he enters the same teahouse they were currently in.