<div align="center"><strong>Time:</strong><em> 9am</em><br/><strong>Location:</strong> <em>Sayuri's apartment.</em></div><br/>Sayuri lay there in bed staring at the ceiling as her body slowly awoke from a dream she couldn't recall. Once again she woke with both her bedsheets and herself covered in cold sweat, accompanied by a massive headache and a sore throat. It annoyed her to no end to awaken like this, but a part of her had some what accepted that she was to live with this.<br/><br/>As she got up she looked at her clock and then to the calendar on her wall. Today was the day when she would be put on parade to impress her father's associates, the media and make her parents look good. Although her mother would always say she wasn't being put on display, she would be taking up her role as walking art and showing what a grown-up she had become; which was just a load of bull to Sayuri. The black haired beauty wasn't as naïve as her parents liked to believe.<br/>The teen felt that her innocence was taken long ago and felt there was no way she could undo her experience and knowledge. She was almost an adult and not the naive child you could easily lie to any more. However, she allowed her parents to carry on thinking she was. It was the only way to keep the peace.<br/><br/>As Sayuri went into her bathroom she ran the freezing cold water in the sink to splash her face and took a quick drink before she opened her cabinet. Once she opened it, she took some of the bottles of anti-depressants, mood stabilizers and tranquillisers and shook the dosages she was suppose to be taking into her hand. The dark haired girl then briefly looked at herself in the mirror, knowing after tonight she would have to start taking them again, as a liver tolerance check would be required two weeks from now; something she knew would give away the fact she actually wasn't taking her medication, and wasn't the stable, good little girl her parents and psychologist had come to believe she was with the little cocktail.<br/>With a small sigh Sayuri put the hand of pills under the running tap and watched them go down the drain. This was a routine she had grown used to for the past few years and it never ceased to give her small bit of satisfaction.<br/><br/>In combination with her natural ability to act, she would take her medication two weeks before the mandatory blood test. It was this which kept up the façade that she was still taking her medication. The only down side to all of this was the fact she had to cold turkey herself afterwards. But the price of staying who she was, to her, was worth it.<br/><br/>Sayuri felt she would rather live with the scars she had acquired than become a blissfully ignorant zombie, who simply didn't register bad emotions or situations. To say she was proud of her scars would be inaccurate. To say she was over the trigger of her current mentality would also be wrong. The closest thing that could be said is that she had partly accepted her nightmares and had also partly accepted that she was who she was, and couldn't really change. It didn't matter that she wasn't considered normal. She was her own person and that was all that mattered to her.<br/><br/>Once she was finished with her morning routine she opened the curtains in her living quarters. Even though the view was lovely, anyone with two braincells could figure out that today it was freezing cold. So once she was washed, fed and dressed, she wrapped herself up as warm as she could. Although the building was nice and toasty she didn't want to feel the cold for too long when she waited for her mother's car to arrive. So once she had finished putting her winter armour on she then made her way down to the streets where she waited for her mother to pick her up.<br/><br/><div align="center">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/><strong>Time:</strong> <em>11am</em><br/><strong>Location:</strong> <em>Health and beauty Spa.</em></div><br/>“You must be on your best behaviour tonight...”<br/>“Yes, mother...”<br/>“I mean it! Your father needs this to strengthen his business relations, so we cannot afford for you to mess it up!”<br/>“Yes, mother...”<br/>“If you do mess this up your snake will be given away to the local zoo and you'll have all your privileges taken away for a month!”<br/>“Yes, mother...”<br/>“Good girl!”<br/><br/>Sayuri didn't even flinch as the aged beautician waxed her legs, during the one sided conversation between herself and her mother. She had grown accustomed to the pain long ago, and  now it just felt like a dull annoyance. If anything her mother's past harshness on how childish she was being over getting upset over the pain had made her numb to this. If anything her commands and comments no longer hurt and now just served as a distraction. The woman was oblivious to the fact threats fell on deaf ears. The teen was smart enough to know when to hold back her usual behaviour. She had had more than enough practice and time to adapt.<br/><br/>“After we are done here, we shall go to lunch, get that mess you call hair done and pick up your kimono.”<br/>“Yes, mother...”<br/>“Then we will be going back to ours and get you ready. I don't understand how you could have let yourself go so much in two months!”<br/>“Sorry, mother...”<br/><br/>The dark haired girl didn't fight her mother. She learned long ago the hard way what happened if she were to try and protest against anything the woman wanted. Everyone who knew the woman knew she wasn't someone to be messed with. Even her father knew not anger his dear wife. And so Sayuri had adapted to just allow her mother to live in the blissful belief that she had her on a leash, just like everyone else in her life. But little did she know that her daughter had taken off the collar long ago and only put it back on when needed.<br/><br/>“Legs are done. Now time for Brazilian~”<br/>“Lovely...”<br/><br/><div align="center">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/><strong>Time:</strong> <em>6:50pm</em><br/><strong>Location:</strong> <em>Gala</em> </div><br/><br/>Sayuri's body still ached a little from the treatment at the spa, and she was having a little trouble adjusting to the tightness of the kimono wrapped around her body. It had been a while since she was in one of these, and she never did like it being this tight. But her mother, as usual, insisted that to truly be perfect for this evening she was to suffer. She claimed t was supposed to be her duty as a walking piece of perfection to suffer in exchange for her beauty.<br/><br/>The teen zoned out her parents nattering and stayed silent as she stared at both herself and the scenery, as the car drove them to the gala. Her face had been made up using the traditional ways the geisha of old used to. Her face was ghostly white with blood red lips, baby pink eye shadow, and her eyes as well as her eyebrows had been emphasized with a shade of coal black. Her hair had been tied back and had decorations of a small golden chime and and a sakura branch. Her kimono was made of expensive black silk which had a hand stitched pattern of pink and white flower petals.<br/><br/>Her look complimented both her parents, who wore different coloured kimono, which also had different designs on them to hers. Her mother had planned their looks weeks ahead and would most likely natter about it to the fashion reporters. But the most important thing, to Sayuri's mother, is the fact that from how they looked no one would guess they were a family of criminals was the most important thing to Sayuri's mother.  Tonight Sayuri was a whole different person and she knew once she left that car she would have to act the part; it  was something she wasn't really looking forward to, but knew for the sake of peace and her snake she would have to do.<br/><br/>Sayuri was brought out of her little day dream as the car slowed down as it reached it's destination. This was it. The stage was set and it was almost her time to perform.<br/><br/>"This is it! Remember what I said! Snake in zoo!" Her mother reminded her as she pointed her fan at Sayuri.<br/>"Yes, mother..."<br/>"Chin up little lilly..." Her father said reassuringly as he gently stroked her cheek, being ever so careful not to spoil her make up.<br/><br/>Sayuri simply smiled at him and closed her eyes as the car finally came to a stop. They were really there and now a part of her was wondering if she should have taken something to kick her nerves away. But it would seem her efforts to hide her nerves were useless as her father took her hand and squeezed it. She opened her eyes in time to see him give her a little reassuring wink. She just smiled at him once again, before he released her.<br/><br/><strong>“Introducing Mr Takshi Koto, his wife Mrs Mao Koto and their daughter Miss Sayuri Koto!”</strong><br/><br/>The announcer said as their car door swung open and the freezing cold air and snow assaulted the three of them. First her mother and father left the car, giving a wave and smile pose to all, before her father offered his hand to her. The moment she took it she was the art they wanted her to be. Slowly and gracefully she got out of the car, in fluid motion with her father's gentle guidance. The dark haired beauty then opened her black parasol at the same time as her mother and stayed posing with her for a few moments before the three of them began walking down the red carpet. Sayuri pulled off her role as the sweet and innocent daughter perfectly. The look of pride in both of her parents' eyes wasn't hard to miss. She was the walking piece of art her mother had trained her to be and for now the world's eyes were on her.<br/><br/>It took all the will Sayuri had not to crack her mask, as she heard fashion snobs comment on her traditional attire, gossip reporters comment on the 'murderess' showing herself at such an event and other reporters just making general statements about her family. She couldn't help but wonder if this is all these people were good for. If she could, she would have commented about how pathetic they were to make money off such events. But tonight she was to behave.<br/><br/>As her parents shook hands and spoke to some of the reporters, one of them approached her and asked her a harmless question. The teen was about speak, and was going to be polite, but her mother quickly cut in, keeping her voice silent. So as usual the world could not hear her voice nor know her as a person. It was a simple and harmless enough question about the rumours of her starting college in the city, but it would seem that no matter how good her acting was she would never be trusted to not slip up in some way.<br/>Once her parents decided they were done with speaking and posing for the cameras the three of them walked inside the building. What greeted them was breath taking.<br/><br/>As the door closed Sayuri tried her best not to show how the sudden shift from freezing to toasty effected her. To help her with this she was about to ask her father something, but both of her parents walked off as they saw some friends they hadn't seen in a long while. Sayuri stayed put, but looked around the place. She spotted children of the other celebrities and did her best to hide her scorn at how some of them could get away with misbehaving, as they were. There she was having to play perfect daughter and they were getting away with murder. She gripped her parasol as a few ran past her and almost smacked into her. It took everything she had no to yell at the little shits, to watch where they were going. But she wisely chose against it.<br/>As Sayuri turned to follow her parents she was greeted by a butler with a tray of drinks. She was about to take a glass of champagne but from seemingly nowhere her mother quickly swatted her hand before her hand would even rise above her stomach.<br/><br/>“You know you can't drink while on those meds. It will make you do funny things.” She scolded quietly as she gently pulled her daughter to one side.<br/>“Sorry, mother...” The dark haired beauty replied with her put on sincerity; little did her mother know how much she was actually fuming inside.<br/>“Good girl.” She said with a big smile as she stroked her chin carefully, but affectionately.<br/><br/>With that her mother took her around and made sure to have her introduced to a few of the men her father was doing back door business with. Each commented on how much she looked like her mother, which irked her, but she didn't show it. She just let out a small giggle and looked to her mother briefly for small approval to speak, which she got with a simple nod.<br/><br/>“You are all too generous with your words...” Sayuri commented,as she cast her eyes downward, she pulled her fan to her face pretending to be flustered.<br/><br/>This earned her a chuckle from her father's friends and associates, along with a gentle hug from her mother and a lot positive comments about how modest and sweet she was. But what pissed her off was when one had the balls to actually asked her to be a bride for his son. Luckily her father wasn't the type to just marry her off for the sake of business and turned the man down.<br/><br/>After that her parents became too busy chatting to the other adults, so Sayuri excused herself from their presence and began wandering around the place. It seemed like a nice enough place, and she wanted to explore the place a little. Plus she just wanted to get away from them. Their conversations were doing nothing but both boring and annoying the shit out of her.<br/><br/>“Idiots...” She mumbled to herself as she snuck herself a glass of champagne and hid herself out of her parents' view as she took a sip.<br/><br/>Something told Sayuri this was going to be a long night...