The sun goes down; it is evening, and the lights turn on across the face of this world. As the stars glow and the moon takes its full form in the sky, an area illuminates below. Beautiful women in provocative clothes stand by the house fronts. The entire area has soft music playing somewhere, glowing brighter than the moon itself. Meanwhile, the corners of this area are so dark that even the sunlight might hesitate to reach them. The buildings are made of wood with stones for pillars; it is a place that looks like women rule it. There are some men; from their clothing and expressions, they are rich and think they are entitled to everything the world has to offer. The scent of various flowers, artificially mixed fragrances, and incense sticks comes to anyone’s nose as they pass through that corridor of the street.
On that street walks a known face. Though young, he is still 5’10”, but unlike his signature duster, he wears nothing but a sleeveless tank top, cargo pants, and boots. His eyes are as dead as ever, looking like he has seen everything the world has to offer but is not impressed by any of it. With both hands in his pockets, the women stare at him and call out to him. He smiles at them, but he does not stop. That smile does not have any cold or warmth in it; it is pure emptiness. He can see those dark corners between the establishments, smell the rot around the structures, and behind the eyes of invitation, there are eyes that constantly watch a man the moment he enters this corner. Unlike the rich men who enjoy this company of light, Taglia knows the moment they are unable to pay for the lights, it will turn into a darkness they will not live long enough to tell the tale about.
Young Taglia walks among the ladies when he hears a voice: “Oyeee, your zip is open.”
Taglia freezes, forces himself to look down, and sees that it is. In a flash of panicked motion, he zips his fly, but because of the panic, he takes more time to zip than necessary. This creates a funny moment among the women, who cover their mouths and laugh at his antics, but the moment he zips it up, he returns to normal.
As he turns to his right, he sees a young girl with a bored and disgusted look on her face staring at him.
Taglia does not move or say anything; he just stares into her eyes. There is something familiar about her that he knows, or something that deeply pulls him towards this young girl. He walks up to her and, with a smile, says, “Thank you.”
The girl looks up at his face. Her overall height might come to his elbows even if she stands upright, but currently, she sits at the wooden edge of the building structure. She is surrounded by a few other beautiful women who try to catch Taglia’s attention, but because he stares so deeply into her eyes, they move away to give him and the girl some space.
After a few moments pass, she replies, “We get it. You fucked someone… disgusting!” She makes a puking gesture at Taglia and turns her face to her right, breaking eye contact. This little girl is a chibi compared to Taglia’s size, yet her words have a bite that could make a grown man cry.
Taglia looks up at the night sky and lets out a booming laugh. Finally, barely controlling himself, he says playfully, “Yeah, yeah, as I said, my apologies. And I wasn’t showing off!”
The girl does not reply; she only turns her head when she hears his laugh.
Seeing no answer, Taglia asks again, “So, you… you new here?”
She replies, “Why, wanna pay me too for…?”
Taglia looks disgusted before she can finish her sentence. His face contorts, his nose crinkles, his eyes narrow, and his mouth opens like he is gagging as he says, “Hey, mind it! Are you sick or what?”
A little surprise plays on her face as her eyes widen a fraction, but quickly hiding it, she decides to answer the question Taglia asked. “Recently, my mother died, and her husband sold me here for some coins.” she says. There is no fear in this little girl’s voice. She states it like a fact, as if she observes her own life rather than lives in it.
Taglia catches it quickly and asks, “So, how are you liking this place?”
The girl replies, “It’s not bad.” She looks around at the people and the buildings and continues, “Not that I have a choice!” This last line just slips out of her mouth, and she shuts it abruptly, clearly feeling embarrassed for being so open about her feelings to a stranger.
Taglia stares deep into her face and says, “We always have a choice… you just have to be brave enough to make it yourself.”
She turns from the crowd, looks Taglia in the eye, and says, “Okay, fine! I’d rather burn this place down! I loathe these people… disgusting.” Her voice literally shows a hint of something—a concentrated, singular intent for a single objective, which is currently burning down this place that acts as her prison.
Suddenly, an older female—likely the madam of this establishment—steps out of the building to Taglia’s left. She comes up to Taglia and asks, “Mister, are you interested in her? She is new here.” The madam’s voice is laced with honey. Hearing her speak, the young girl turns her head away to her left; looking at the street is better than looking at her.
Taglia does not even bother to look at who spoke. He keeps gazing at the girl’s face and asks her, “Oyee chibi, what’s your name?”
She snaps back at him, her tone irritated, “Don’t call me chibi, you whoremonger.”
Taglia smirks and finally says to the madam, while still looking at the girl’s face, “I would like to take her with me!”
Hearing him say that surprises both the girl and the madam. After a moment of silence, the madam’s voice gains a little steel as she says, “You can’t take her, sir. She is ours!”
Taglia asks the girl, “Is that true? Are you theirs?”
The girl tries to look to her right towards the madam, but Taglia interrupts, saying, “Nu-uh, I asked you. You can talk for yourself, right? Otherwise, you would prove her right!”
The madam, confused about what is going on, looks from Taglia to the girl. The girl stares at Taglia’s face for a moment; then her eyebrows go flat, her voice gains steel, and she says, “I am not anyone’s property!”
Hearing this, Taglia smirks. The madam takes a step towards the girl and says, “What did you…?”
She does not get to finish her sentence.
Taglia extends his left hand and jerks his wrist and fingers. Five wind cutters are immediately created and run towards the madam, cutting the older woman down into five asymmetrical pieces, surprising both the little girl and the nearby people. As the body parts fall onto the ground making DHUP DHAP noises, and blood splatters across the street, hitting the nearby people including the girl and Taglia, the other women nearby scream so loud that all other voices die down. They run away from where the pieces lie.
The girl looks at the pieces, hops off from sitting, and says, her voice calm as a lake, “You are fucked. They are gonna kill you now, and your family will never find your body!”
Taglia smiles and says, “Then it’s good that I don’t have any!” He turns and walks away, stopping for a brief moment to ask the girl behind him, “You coming?”
The girl looks at the pieces one last time before slowly following his footsteps as they walk towards the exit of that corner. Guards cover the gates, and a few run towards them from behind; these men are taller and larger.
Taglia smirks, stands sideways, and extends his arms to his sides. Pointing his fingers towards the direction the guards are charging in, he swats his wrists and fingers. SLISLUCK.
The moon goes behind the clouds.
Slowly, the clouds move, and the moon is clear again. On the ground, Taglia walks beside her into a dark path; there is no sign of the area behind them. The young girl looks up at him, studying his right profile.
Taglia asks again, looking ahead, “You never told me your name.”
This time, without hesitation, the girl says, “Makisa!“
As they keep walking, the path changes. That young girl grows into who she is today. Behind them, the moon slowly goes down and the sun rises. She is now older, dressed in a white and navy coat, trousers, and boots, with two tantos on her belt and a katana in her left hand. Taglia looks like his current self, with his signature duster back on. Since the first time he met her until now, they have walked together, with Makisa by Taglia’s right side.
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