The Emperor's Rose

Chapter 1 // Get Up Sweet Child

Aiko was ploughing the hard ground. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. Her simple brown kimono was splattered with soil. Her hands were dirty and clammy as she held the shovel tightly.

She stopped for a moment, her hand resting on her shovel. Her long, black, shiny hair was tied in a messy bun with a simple strip of brown cloth. Her red flecked eyes glanced tiredly at the ground. Her eyes were unique. She had gotten them from her dead mother. A grim smile started spreading on her lips as she realized she was working on her mother's death anniversary. Her grin widened painfully: she worked everyday. What difference did it make? The days were all the same, blending into one.

That was her life. Her uncle, Shin Sa, ordered her to work, while her sisters did nothing all day. They never questioned it, deeming it fair, since their mother had died giving birth to her.

Aiko raised her head, and looked at her sisters: Chiho, Siho, and Miho. She could see their silhouette moving behind the closed rice paper screens.

The three older sisters were lazily lying in bed and combing their hair with peach scented oils while wearing silk kimonos. The prettier kimonos were meticulously reserved for them. Aiko was left with simple grey and brown kimonos, almost identical to those of a maid. They didn't have to the plough the ground or do the hard work. While her three older sisters learned how to play the Shamisen, sew, sing and dance, Aiko did the manual work.

Aiko had always been different from them. She was rebellious and didn't obey her Uncle from the start. She played around in the garden, dirtying herself. Uncle Shin Sa had despised her the very moment she stepped into his house, deciding to keep her away from his more docile nieces he could marry off easily. Uncle Shin Sa had changed her older sisters' names to resemble one another, a sign of nobility. To ostracize Aiko further, and draw a clear line between the four sisters, he had kept her old name, completely different from her sisters'.

Chiho, Siho And Miho were learning how to be good wives. Aiko was learning how to be a good servant.

As Aiko rested, the sun slowly setting, Chiho came out of the house, wearing a beautifully embroidered kimono. Uncle Shin Sa followed behind her. They talked, gesticulating. He nodded after a few minutes, a small smile on his wrinkled face. Aiko tsked. Chiho was probably asking him to buy her a new comb or jewel. She threw her hands around his neck, hugging him. Her smile was fake, evaporating from her face the minute her uncle couldn't see her face anymore.

Aiko rolled her shoulders, easing the tension and got back to work. If it were for her, she would leave the house this instant. But what could a woman, alone and without a status and money, do in this man-ruled society? So, she stayed. At least here, she had a roof that protected her head. But she showed her distaste, not wanting to stay quietly since she paid dearly for her decision to remain.

After having ploughed the ground a few more times, she threw the shovel in a nearby shed and walked home. The sun was setting, and her long shadow trailed behind her. Aiko walked to the well and quickly washed her feet. She then slipped inside and took her wooden sandals off as she entered the house. Her back was scorching hot from the sun beating on it all day. Her hands were blistered, and her feet ached. She was tired and wanted to sit down and read in her small room.

But Miho opened the sliding doors to her richly perfumed room. "Aiko, you haven't cleaned my room." She whined, childlike, gripping onto the thin frame. Chiho opened her door, "Clean mine as well." And so did Siho. "Clean mine too!"

Aiko scrunched her hands. Today was also her mother's funeral. Her sisters didn't even seem to care. Had they forgotten their mother? Had the scented oils made them forget? She cracked. All the rage and hidden sadness from the previous chores and the horrible week where she didn't seem to get anything right, weighed on her. She had accidentally ripped a kimono, broken a vase, snapped a makeup brush, in two, hit Chiho (accidentally of course) and dropped food. Everything was always her fault, and it was just piling up on her back.

"Go clean your room by yourself!" She snarled, escaping to her room and slamming the screen door shut. The rice paper trembled.

A few gasps resonated behind her and then cries and squeals as they ran to their Uncle. Aiko bit her lip as she threw herself on the bed.

After a few hours, the doors to her room were opened without even asking for permission. Aiko gritted her teeth. She closed her book, throwing it on her pillow.

Uncle Shin Sa was standing in the doorway. Her sisters behind him, hiding their faces with their fans. "Such a horrible woman...tsk. Have you no respect for your older sisters?" he asked sternly, fanning himself. He clearly believed this was going to be just another earful Aiko received. He was already planning not to give her food for a few days and then everything would slowly settle back to what he considered normality.

"I worked hard all day without complaining. And today is mother's funeral as well. I didn't even have time to go to her grave! I'm not a servant. I'm their sister!" She spat back, licking her cracked lips.

Chiho stomped her foot. "You don't have the right to be mean to me!" She yelled, completely ignoring the mention of her mother. Uncle Shin Sa nodded, ignoring the mention of his sister as well. It was as if scented oils and embroidered kimonos had slowly erased the woman from their minds.

"You cannot behave like you are more than your sisters! They will bring money to the household, but you will not! If it weren't for me, you would have died!" He snarled in her face, repeating the same thing he said every time Aiko stood up for herself. A few specks of spit landed on her nose.

Aiko stoically passed her hand on her face, even though anger was pulsating through her. She cleaned her hand on Uncle Shin Sa's sleeve and said, "I would rather die than live here." She hissed.

Everyone gasped, their eyes were widening. Uncle Shin Sa became blue in the face. His pudgy neck wobbled as he trembled in fury. "Leave!" He ordered. "The only thing you're good at is those filthy martial arts. Which are not for a lady!" He roared.

Aiko smiled, grinning proudly at the mention of her skill. She mastered the martial arts. It was another way to escape her family. She was could do the other "womanly" things her sister could do, but she didn't want to be sold as an object to some man twice her age as her husband. Aiko was proud of doing something her sisters couldn't do. She liked to defy the rules tightly bound around her sex.

She had made no secret of her acquired skill, flaunting it proudly, almost obnoxiously, trying to bring further shame onto her Uncle.

Aiko's grin widened; her reason blinded by anger. "With pleasure! I won't stay in this household for one more instant." She snapped, a weight on her shoulders lifting. It seemed a miracle, a dream come true: she could leave. An unrealistic dream, that would come followed by heavy sacrifices. But her happiness was like a drug, blinding her logic.

Leaving her old life behind, she walked away. She left the gardens to never return again. One step after the other.

She slipped out of the house she hated and slowly walked away, never looking back.

And so, Aiko started walking. The landscape changing with her humor. Doubt slowly started to creep up her spine. Minutes turned into hours as the day died, being replaced by night.

Slowly, Aiko started feeling tired. Her eyes hazy, destroyed by the poor light of the night. Hunger ate her stomach. Her feet bleeding. The miracle of freedom became a nightmare. She had nowhere to go. The night was chilly, and Aiko quietly trembled. Should she return? No, she could not stand the mere thought.

A carriage passed in front of her. To dodge it, Aiko stepped to the side . But her tired feet couldn't support her; she collapsed on the cold and muddy ground.

The carriage stopped abruptly. An old lady with her hair pulled in a tight bun ran out. She rushed to the young woman on the ground, anxious to see the glimmer of life in her eyes. She placed a hand on Aiko's cold cheek. "Get up, sweet child." She mumbled softly. Hoping to rouse her from the darkness.