<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/f7/Sample-67c865198e2f7ce9333ef53c111aec9c_%281%29.jpg)</div><strong>Now</strong><br/><br/>The little white cat purred softly.  It seemed to Mai that the the little ball of fluff approved of their new companion.  Feeling the geisha's silky soft body in the scanty robe moving in beside her, she couldn't help but give a contented sigh of agreement.<br/><br/>It seemed a natural enough accommodation to their cramped space on the bench for Mai to gently slip her left arm around her companion's tight little waist.  Manipulating the chop sticks with her right hand, she had a few more pieces of sushi, then offered one to her companion's lips before sipping at the fine sake.<br/><br/>Again, a contented sigh.<br/><br/>“What is your name, little one?”  Amongst Asakura her own age—or the Miko who'd been her closest friend 'til they were carried away last year, or when it was just herself and her cat—Mai was as feminine as any girl.  In formal situations, she became more stoic and level toned, even letting her naturally cute voice drop nearly to a tenor pitch.  In a situation like this one, one of informality and comfort, but still consorting with a girl of noticeably lower station, something curious happened.<br/><br/>Mai began to speak as if she were a young man.<br/><br/>Like in formal situations, her voice took on a stoic pitch, emotionally neutral, but strong and gentle.  Pitch hovering in some androgynous register that could belong to either gender.  She even spoke in a form of speech normally used by young men in semi formal situations.  'I' became<em>boku</em>, not<em>watashi</em>--a formal, gender neutral term—or<em>atashi</em>—a feminine way of referring to oneself.<br/><br/>“I'm afraid I've been rather busy since coming to this fair city,” she explained.  “The daimyo charged me with dealing with the bandits to the south.  They won't trouble you any more.  If anyone asks, their graves can be found on the fifth hill to the south, in a grove of adder.”<br/><br/>She poured the geisha another saucer.  “Please forgive the morbid topic, little one.”<em>I thought someone might wish to pay their respects to a brother who lost their way and wouldn't wish to question the authorities.  </em><br/><br/>“I was able to appreciate the flowers on the way back into town.  What are the little yellow ones?  The brightness and vividness of their color inspires poetry.”  In feminine speech, she would not have been so assertive, even when admiring the flowers.  In this relationship, though, she could speak with conviction.