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Spirited Away: Goddess of the Yura River

Chapter 3: Pescetarian?

I walked down the stairs, my human clothes bundled in my hands. I still had the sea-blue choker around my neck and my dog tags were hidden under my pink shirt. My tail was still painfully squished against the band of the pants, but that would be resolved soon enough.

Getting weird looks as I walked along, I tried to ignore the murmurs from employees, about my tail and my ears. I rolled my eyes and slid open a door and went down some stairs, to the level Kamajii was on. I would put my clothes with my backpack and (hopefully it was still there) use the switchblade I had in it to cut a slot for my tail to poke through my clothes.

I passed between all of the gears and ducked through the sliding panel to the boiler room, bumping my head on my way in. I cursed under my breath and rubbed the top of my head, sliding the door shut.

"Did Yubaba put a spell on you?" Kamajii asked as I stood. He hadn't even looked at me yet, but he could tell that something had changed. That was impressive...

I cleared my throat. "Yeah... I have a tail and ears..." I said, walking to my backpack. I knelt and tucked my rolled-up clothes into it, then searched the front pocket for the black switchblade that Hikaru had given me for my seventeenth birthday.

Taking the said blade and flipping it open, I ran my fingers along the seam, before hoping for the best and went for it, the blade pressing through the fabric like it were nothing.

Kamajii turned to me and said, "Well, well... My suspicions were correct; you are half spirit, Setsuna, " One of his arms extended and touched one of my ears, making it twitch.

My ears laid back against my head as my tail waved. "Heyyy! Hands off of the ears, they're sensitive!" I said defensively, putting my hands over my ears. I watched as another arm extended and grabbed a shard of what looked like the glass from a mirror and brought it in front of me. I pulled my tail through the new hole in my pants, then took a look in the glass. "And who's Setsun- AAAH!"

I screamed when I saw myself - it was worse than I thought! The ears were turquoise, like the color of my mom's hair color! Then I brought my long tail around, to where I could see it; it was the same color! And my eyes were a more vibrant shade of mint-green with slits for pupils, instead of circles. Then I looked to my teeth, my canines protruded more and were sharper, and the rest of my teeth were just a bit sharper than normal.

"It seems that you have feline spirit blood in you, " Kamajii said, breaking the silence.

I folded my arms over my chest and sighed. "Well, this is just great, if I ever go home, I'll be a freak." I grumbled, looking down at the soot balls as they scurried about. A few stopped to look at me curiously, them and their big eyes just looked so adorable!

A moment later, the panel that I'd came through slid open, and a girl with bright red hair and mocha skin came through with a basket. She looked around, then gasped when she saw me. "You're that human-spirit-girl with the cat ears, that everyone's talking about!" she cried, pointing at me accusingly.

I held up my hands defensively and said, "Sorry?" It was kind of questioning, but I had no idea how to react to some stranger coming in and flipping out.

"Where is Lin, Yara?" Kamajii asked the girl. I guessed they were acquainted.

This Yara-girl took a handful of what was in her basket and threw them to the soot balls. It looked like the colorful sugar candies that I used to get from my mom when I was a kid... Oh, Kami, I missed her... I shook the thought and looked at my black-nailed hands as the girl spoke.

"She's in the middle of cleaning one of the tubs, told me to come and feed the soot sprites. Now... " She turned to me and dumped out the sugar candies where the soot balls worked. "This girl is interesting..." she murmured, coming forward and pulling on my ears. "Are these real?! Ah, they're so soft and fuzzyyyy~" she cooed.

"Yes, they're real! Hands off!" I snarled. I was starting to feel like myself again, even after my short time here in the bath house. 'I think I'll adjust nicely, '

"Geez, no need to get so defensive!" Yara said, raising her eyebrows at me.

I frowned and looked her up and down. She was wearing the standard bath house worker uniform, her red hair reached her hips, cut straight at the bottom and the ends pulled together with a blue hairband, her skin was a bronze-mocha color, and she had coffee-colored eyes. She was a bit taller than me and was fairly shapely, for someone working at a bath house. I wondered if she was a special kind of spirit, like I (apparently) was.

"Well, " I began, folding my arms over my chest. "It hurts when people pull on my ears."

"Oya~tsu! You have a tail, too!" Yara cried suddenly and darted down, one of her dainty hands going for my fuzzy turquoise tail.

She tugged on it and I cried out, slapping her hand away from it. "Don't touch it!" I whined, taking it and wrapping it around, holding it to my chest protectively. It hurt quite a bit, actually. It's like... having someone pull on your arm really hard when you're standing still.

"And what's this contraption, over here?" she cooed, running to Hikaru's covered motorcycle and yanking the blanket off of it. She gasped and ran her hands over the smooth metal gas tank, looking at the glossy black paint in wonder. It was if she hadn't seen a thing like it before... 'Oh wait, she hasn't seen anything like that. I'm stupid.' I told myself, rolling my eyes.

"Hands off!" I said, picking up the blanket and throwing it over the bike again. "That's my best friend's."

Yara folded her arms over her chest. "You're quite stubborn, now, aren't you. Lighten up! What's your name, anyway?" she asked, looking down at me.

"Kira's my name, " I said, scowling. "and I will not lighten up, until I know my friend won't be turned into bacon, damn it!"

She looked at me, kind of surprised, then snickered, "You're just like that human, Chihiro, who was here ten years ago! Your buddy was the one who ate the spirits' food, eh?" I groaned and rubbed my temples, getting fed up with this girl.

"Yara, leave her alone. Take her up to your room, then get to work. The night is almost over, " Kamajii said, seeming a bit annoyed, himself. I raised my eyebrows. He really seemed to be the kind of person whose patience wouldn't burn down as quickly as most, but, I guess, I was wrong.

Yara raised her eyebrows. "Wait, you... you're letting her not work tonight!" she cried, raising her hands. "But I... I have to work! That is so not fair!" She was throwing her little tantrum about work, and I folded my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes at her while she did. I knew I could be childish and whiney sometimes, but this... this was far worse than my fits.

Kamajii waved me off and I bowed, before sliding the shoji open and ducking through, running to the stairs and going to the ground floor... Well, the floor people enter on. Walking along, I caught the scent of cooking meat and slapped a hand over my mouth, hoping that I wouldn't throw up. After that whole food episode with Hikaru, I would never eat meat again; cat, or not. Well, I could tolerate fish. That was the one food he didn't eat - he hated fish. So that was okay.

"So you're the human... cat.. thing? Ugh, whatever you are, but you're the one who's causing all the problems, right?" I heard a voice behind me. I made a bitter face, before turning around. Surprisingly, I saw a normal-looking spirit... She fit Chihiro's description of Lin very well.

"I guess I am... Are you, by any chance, named Lin?" I asked, raising my eyebrows hopefully. I really hoped it was her, otherwise I wouldn't have any friends, of sorts, (other than Yara, who wasn't quite on my good side) to work with.

She looked surprised. "Yeah, how'd you know my name?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms over her chest.

I smiled meekly. "Chihiro is my cousin. She told me all about this place, " I said, looking around a bit. I felt so awkward, talking to someone who was a part of a story that I had heard for so long. It was all so... weird.

"Wait... you're related to Sen- er, Chihiro?" Lin asked, brightening instantly. I nodded. "So.. what's your name?" I froze. My name?

"I'm Kira..." I said, feeling a bit unsure. That was all that came to mind, when I thought of my name. Then I remembered - the dog tags! I shoved a hand into the collar of my shirt, then produced two silver tags, my name inscribed in them. "My name is Setsuna!"

"Setsuna... Ah, Yubaba stole your name..." she sighed. "It's so disappointing, how you can forget your own name so easily, " She wasn't just talking about me, but about her and the other spirits... about Chihiro, who had used her boquet card to recall her name. She had her card and I had my tags.

I nodded. "Unfortunately, yes, " I said, my mouth forming a straight line. It truly was a bitter thought.

"Well, since it's your first night, and it's almost over, go up to the rooms and just relax... I'll be up there soon, and I'll bring some dinner up, with me." Lin told me, glancing at one of the frog men who passed, sneering something. "Don't talk bad about her! She's family of Chihiro's!" she snapped.

I blinked. I guess she and Chihiro were closer than I'd thought, she was treating me so nicely, even though I'd known her for less than five minutes. Maybe this won't be all that bad...

I headed up to the room and laid out a pallett for me, before I went to the hall and opened the doors at the rail, leaning against it and looking out at the open expanse of land. I took note of the train tracks and smiled. I remembered how Chihiro took the train that travelled that route to see Zeniba, or 'Granny,' she liked to call her.

I heard footsteps and saw one of the snail women coming in, to lay out her floral-patterned pallett and lay down to rest. Glancing back to the open land, I noticed the purplish tint the sky had to it; morning was approaching quickly. "I've been awake for damn near twenty-four hours, " I yawned, arching my back as I stood and got a nice pop. I untied the blue sash around my waist and slipped off the pink overshirt, tossing it

A cold gust of wind blew my hair back and I sighed, pulling it out of the very messy braid it was in. I had done it several hours ago, not really expecting to actually get through to this world and get into all the shit I had. Hikaru was a pig, I was more than likely a vegetarian, now - no, pescetarian -, I was working for a witch, I look like a cat, and I made a new friend. Yep, this was definitely interesting; Chihiro hadn't been kidding when she said things could get weird there... I mean, look at me! I'm a freaking human-cat-spirit-thing! The fuck?! I shook my head, then looked to my right when Lin came up the stairs.

"Hey, I got you some rice and cooked salmon, " she said, holding up one of the square onyx plates she had. It had a white bowl of rice, chopsticks, and a fair portion of one of those fancy fish I saw earlier.

"Oh, wow... Thank you, " I said gratefully, taking the plate from her hand and seating myself with my back pressed to the rails.

Lin sat down beside me and said, "No problem."

After a few minutes of silence, just eating, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "Are things here always like this?" I asked, fiddling with the chopsticks as I did.

"What do you mean?" Lin responded, looking at me out of her peripheral, before tearing into a dumpling. "Want one?" she interjected quickly, holding up a second dumpling.

"I mean, ah... is everything basically the same work every night? Like, you get up at dusk, open up, clean baths and assist customers, finish work, chow, then go to bed at dawn, and sleep through the day?" I said. "And what kind of dumpling is it?" I raised my eyebrows, hoping it was fish or fruit.

"Why don't you find out?" she asked, passing me the dumpling. I hesitated, then took the dumpling. "And... I guess it is all the same. I mean, we get people that stay here, upstairs, and some that just come in to wash up. It's kind of the same work, but we see new faces every day, " Lin explained, taking a bite out of her dumpling.

I nodded, then took my chances, taking a bite out of the dumpling. Much to my luck, it was fish. I sighed in relief and took another bite, saying, "Well... That's kind of easy."

"Lights out, Lin!" one of the snails said as they all settled into their pallets.

Lin swallowed. "Alright!" she called, just as the lights flicked out. I sighed and closed my stinging eyes, taking another bite out of the dumpling. "Why does the type of dumpling matter?" she asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen over us.

"Well... My friend turned into a pig, like Chihiro's parents did... and I saw him when he was eating the spirits' food and... I'm kinda grossed out, now. So I've gone pescetarian."

"That's a gross mental image... Pescetarian?"

"Yeah, I'll only eat seafood, vegetables, and fruit."

"I see... I can tell the cooks, so they know to make a fair amount of that kind of food for you, if you'd like, " Lin said with a smile.

I nodded. "Ah, thanks..." I said, taking another bite. "You know, being a cat, people would expect me to love and ravish on meat, but, no, I kind of... dislike it..." Both of us laughed quietly.

"Well, it definitely is unexpected. I mean, cats usually ravish on that stuff..." Lin said, finishing up her dumpling.

I nodded again, stuffing the last of my dumpling into my mouth. We picked up our empty plates and bowls and stood, quietly making our way downstairs. One of the floorboards creaked under Lin's feet and she cursed, and whispered to me, "How do you walk so lightly?"

I shrugged and whispered back, "I'm not really sure... Usually I'm a real ditz, but it must be the whole cat thing..." I said, heading to the stairs that went up to the kitchen. I hurried up them, closely followed by Lin, and slid the paper shoji open with my foot, slipping in, and setting my dishes into the sink.

Lin did the same, then we ran back to our room, sliding the doors to the balcony shut, just as the sun began to rise. We made our way to our pallets and laid down, settling in for sleep.

This really wouldn't be all that bad...

So, Like? Dislike? :3 Review and let me know. If anything is confusing, I'd be happy to clarify it~ Emm... I think that's it, for now. x]

Until next chapter~

-BrokenBlackkDahlia