A quicker piece then usual. I'm working on some new things, but they're still unfinished.
Marin hated the cold.
The darkness was bad, but she'd gotten used to the darkness. There really wasn't much around her to see anyway. It would be nice to have light, but she could find her way around by keeping a hand on the wall and moving slowly.
The cold however didn't fade away. It didn't even settle into a single form of misery. Sometimes it was damp and cold. Other times it was just freezing. Usually it was both on different parts of her body. It changed as she moved through the cave complex. Part of her body would dry, and then she'd step in a pool or water would drop on her from above.
But the worst was when she had to collapse and rest. Half her body froze against the rocks, while the other was chilled by the cavern's air. The only reason she was able to sleep at all was pure exhaustion. Soon her body would recover enough to start complaining again, and she'd awaken, still tired, hungry and sore. And cold. Always cold.
She didn't know how long it had been since she'd fallen into the caves. She knew it had been at least three days, because she'd had to go find water. That was the only reason she'd left the site of the cave in. She knew that moving would make it harder for her family to find her, but it wouldn't help if she died before they could get to her. So she'd started walking. And once she'd found water she'd been so lost she just kept walking. Walking and searching for a way out.
She knew her family had to be worried sick about her. And it was all her fault too. They'd told her not to go playing around the base of youkai mountain, but she didn't listen. She'd wandered off to go catch fish, and fallen into a sinkhole for her pains.
Fish. What she would do for a nice fish now. Her stomach had been empty for so long it felt like it had shriveled up.
Marin focused on the hunger. It was better then remembering how much she missed her family.
She choked back a sob and kept moving. Step after step in the darkness and the cold.
Finally her legs couldn't hold out anymore. She allowed herself to collapse to the freezing hard ground. She wanted to pull herself upright, to sit, but she knew by now it would only make it harder to get up later. Especially since the flickering in her eyes told her she was probably going to fall asleep soon.
Then Marin heard the voice.
It had to have been a voice. Water didn't sound like that, right? Her mind frantically tried to force itself awake despite the crushing fatigue. She stared ahead and tried to hone all her senses, and she heard, ever so faintly, someone saying "...all the time."
She had heard a voice! And the flickering was real. There was light! Firelight!
Marin tried to stand but her legs gave out. She whimpered as she hit the floor again, then she started to crawl. It hurt, but the light was growing brighter. The cold was fading!
She half crawled half collapsed around the tunnel's final bend. Lights stabbed into her eyes from all over, blinding her with their power. She heard a gasp from the voice, the wonderful voice.
And then her body could no longer take it and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
Marin felt strange as she awoke. Her body was sore, but less then normal. Her eyes were filled with more light than the fading lights of dreams.
And she was warm.
She slowly opened her eyes to find herself on a futon. She had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes to the light, but as her vision began to return she saw she was in a shack, with a warm fire blazing away in the center.
"Oh, you're awake."
Marin groggily turned towards the voice. A short woman Marin didn't recognize was staring down at her with an inquisitive expression. Her clothes were a little weird, and her hair was blond, but she might be an outsider. An outsider with... pointed ears?
The woman must have seen Marin's reasoning before her addled mind could put it all together. "Oh. Huh. Yes I am a youkai, but no I'm not going to eat someone like you. I'm not the that kind of youkai."
Marin thought she heard some bitterness in the woman's voice, but she wasn't thinking well. She did believe the youkai's explanation though. After all, why would a youkai nurse her back to health if it was going to eat her?
"Can you sit up?" the youkai asked. "I have some soup if you can eat."
"I... I think I can eat," Marin said. There was a wave of dizziness as she sat up but she forced herself to stay upright.
"Hmph." The youkai woman gave her another once over, then sighed and grabbed a bowl from the table. "I don't think you should be eating anything solid just yet. And I don't have anything that goes with soup anyway, so you'll just have to make do."
Marin didn't care about the extras. It was food. She grabbed the bowl and spoon the woman offered and immediately dug in. It didn't have much of a smell, and whatever was in it was mostly covered up by miso, but after so long without it was wonderful. The warmth of the soup spread through her body, taking away some of her pains and making her feel light and airy.
She'd made it through half the bowl before she remembered the youkai woman was staring at her. She gulped down another mouthful and said, "Thank you very much miss...?"
"Parsee. Mizuhashi Parsee," the woman said flatly. "And you are?"
"My name is Marin, of Gensoukyo village," Marin replied.
Parsee raised an eyebrow for a moment, then she frowned. "So you're that old?" she muttered to herself. Then the woman shrugged and gazed down at the bowl of soup. "Well, it looks like you're enjoying the food."
Marin swallowed uneasily. Had she done something wrong? "Um, yes. It's good. I forgot when the last time I ate was."
Parsee sniffed dismissively and looked away for a moment. But her disinterested look returned quickly. "Well you should finish it, then get back to sleep. You don't want to strain your body."
Marin opened her mouth to protest, but she had to admit she did feel weaker then normal. Instead she asked, "Um, so, can you get word back to the village that I'm alright? My family is probably really really worried about me, and I don't want to cause them any more trouble."
Parsee looked blankly at her for a moment, before returning to a sour frown. "It seems you and your family are really close, aren't you?" Before she could reply the youkai's expression softened. "Well, your family will know where you are. I promise."
"Thank you again Miss Mizuhashi." Marin finished the soup then laid down as Parsee took the bowl. "You seem like a really good youkai."
Parsee looked surprised again, then muttered something. But Marin was already falling back into the warm embrace of sleep.
When Marin awoke again, the shack was empty.
The realization hit her like a bucket of ice water. She immediately sat up, her fatigue mostly gone. She looked around, but Parsee was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but the slowly cooling embers of the fire.
Maybe the youkai woman had only gone outside for a bit? Marin immediately hopped off the bed and headed out the door. She didn't want to be alone right now.
The chilly air of the outside hit her as she opened the door of the shack. Marin gaped at the panorama that opened before her.
She was in a massive cave. Scattered ghost fires brought light to the area, but the ceiling was still shrouded in darkness. Water pools were scattered about, and there was a small stream running under a massive bridge that was in horrible repair.
Beneath that bridge a solitary figure sat, looking up at the ruin.
Marin felt a little weak from relief as she moved towards the figure. Sure enough it turned out to be Parsee, staring up at the bridge with her usual sour frown. Marin was a little hesitant to bother Parsee given her expression. Still, no matter how strange the youkai woman was, it was better then being alone again.
"Hello Miss Parsee!" she called out as she approached.
Parsee looked up at her, then quickly turned away. "Hello."
Marin blinked at the dismissal but carried on. "Um, so did you speak with my family? Are they doing well?"
Parsee heaved out a huge sigh. After a moment she said, "They know where you are." Parsee looked up at the bridge for a bit before continuing. "I'll tell you everything after you wash up. You can use the stream. It's clean."
"Uh, okay." She probably did need to clean herself off a bit. She had to be pretty grimy from wandering around the caves. She walked over to the stream and splashed some of the water on her face, shivering at how cold it was.
She rubbed her face vigorously to get the dirt off, then tried to get a reflection in the stream to see any spots she'd missed. She frowned when she saw the state of her hair. Then she froze.
Where her eyes were supposed to be there were only two dark holes.
Marin screamed and pushed herself away from the stream. She scrambled backwards frantically until she hit Parsee then turned and clung to the woman's leg. "Y-youkai! There's a youkai in the water with my face!"
Parsee simply sighed and rested a hand on her head. "It must be nice to be that blissfully ignorant." Marin looked up at her in confusion.
Parsee sighed again, then bit her lip for a few moments. "Marin, the youkai you saw in the water was you."
Marin blinked at the woman. "W~what? You mean, it's some trick of the water?"
"No," Parsee said finally looking her straight in the eyes. "You are a youkai. You fell in that sinkhole over two hundred years ago. You died in these caves and were reborn as a youkai, like me."
Marin began to shiver. Two hundred years? She had been a youkai for two hundred years? "No. No it can't be!" She pushed herself away from Parsee. "You're lying! You're trying to trick me! I'm going to go home to mommy and daddy and big brother and big sister and you aren't going to stop me!"
Parsee gave a surprised cry as Marin hopped up and dashed away. She splashed through the chill stream, past the old rotting bridge pillars, towards the cavern walls.
She expected Parsee to chase after her, but there was no sound from behind. Apparently the youkai didn't care enough to chase after her. Fine!
As she got closer to the cliffs she began to slow. Not just because she was out of breath, but because she couldn't see a good way up. It wasn't sheer rock, but Marin had no skill at climbing. Maybe there was an easier way up? A trail perhaps? She began looking around.
She'd been looking for a good three minutes without success when a low rumble echoed out from behind her. Marin jumped and whirled. There, hanging from the ceiling, was a massive spider with eyes the size of a fist.
Marin screamed. She turned to run only to find herself facing the cliff side. The was no escape.
There was a massive crash as the spider dropped to the ground. Marin sank to the floor whimpering, trying to sink into the earth itself. The spider waved its horrific legs and mandibles with a roar that sounded like a rockslide. Marin's blood turned to ice. She was going to die alone here.
"She can't understand you Yamame. She still thinks she's human."
Parsee floated down from the sky next to the giant spider. The spider turned towards her, curled up into a ball. And then suddenly there was a girl in a puffy dress standing there. "Oh really? My bad. I didn't realize they were still tossing youkai down here." The girl looked towards her and waved. "Sorry about the scare. I didn't know you couldn't speak to transformed youkai." Marin just stared in shock.
Yamame gave a weak chuckle and took a step back. "Well I was gonna offer you a lift up if you couldn't fly, but I don't think you'd be up for it today." Marin shook her head weakly. She didn't understand anything anymore.
Parsee glared at the transformed girl. "Probably for the best you didn't. She's a loneliness youkai."
"Oh, really?" Yamame turned towards Marin with a look of regret. "Well, you'll learn to fly soon enough I guess. And if you want to talk you can come find me." The girl smiled again. "Anyway good to meet you. And good seeing you again Parsee. Later!"
Yamame rose into the air gracefully, then sped off over the lip of the cliff. Parsee gave the earth spider one final disdainful glance, then walked over to Marin and silently held out her hand.
After a few minutes Marin shakily took Parsee's hand and let the woman pull her to her feet. Parsee turned and began walking back towards where she'd been sitting before.
Marin followed. Where else could she go?
After a bit Parsee began speaking. "That was an earth spider. I've told her before she should stick to her human form, but she still insists on using her real form in the deeper caves." Parsee started chewing on her thumb. "It's annoying. She has a human form that's cuter then mine and she doesn't even use it."
"And of course she's the one who gets to swing around wherever she wants. She can just wander off to the ancient city and party with the oni, or even wander around the surface. It must be nice," the woman snarled.
They walked in silence for a little more before Marin finally got enough together to ask, "So... what am I?"
Parsee seemed to twitch slightly. Then she replied, "You're a youkai formed from loneliness. Your existence is tied to your desire to escape the caves and return home."
To a home that didn't exist.
"So, um, Miss Mizuhashi, what are you?" Marin asked meekly.
Parsee stopped for a moment. "I'm a Hashihime. Or something like that." Parsee started walking back towards the spot where she looked at the bridge. "I feed off jealousy."
Marin nodded slowly. That explained a lot of things.
The two walked back to Parsee's spot and sat down in silence. After a few minutes Marin went back to the cold stream and finished washing her face. Then she returned to sit by Parsee's side.
Finally Parsee spoke up. "You'd do better back at the house. And I bet it's warmer there."
Marin shook her head. "I want to stay here."
"Tch." Parsee looked away. "You know if you hang around people you'll never get your full power."
"I don't want power," Marin replied. She hugged her knees.
"Well whatever." Parsee sighed. "You can hang around if you want. Just don't expect me to look after you. I've got a bridge to watch over."
They sat in silence for a bit longer before Marin asked, "Do you enjoy that?"
Parsee shook her head. "I hate it. But it's what I am."
Marin looked down at her feet. What Parsee was...
What she was...
What was she? A youkai, forgotten in the past. Not even a proper ghost.
She wanted to eat her mother's food again. The dishes that were always just a little too spicy for her. She wanted to feel her father's rough stubble as he hugged her again. She wanted to hear her sister complaining that she'd stolen the last mochi cake. She wanted to hear her brother whining about girls again.
She realized she was sobbing, her lungs hiccuping and gasping. She wiped her eyes and tears black as tar smeared over her hands.
A handkerchief was pressed into her hands and she used it to wipe away the tears and blow her nose. The kerchief came away black and sticky, like it had been covered in oil. "Sorry I ruined your handkerchief."
"It's fine," Parsee said. The two were silent again for a moment. "You must have really been close with your family. You were really lucky."
Parsee stiffened as Marin moved over and hugged the woman. "Thank you Parsee."
"You know you're going to get weak if you hang off me too much," Parsee snapped. But she didn't push Marin away.
It was true. Marin felt a little weaker but she didn't care. She nuzzled closer to Parsee. The woman's words were cold, but Marin felt so warm beside her. "You've been trying to drive me away for my sake haven't you Miss Mizuhashi?"
"Hmph!" Marin giggled as the woman flushed and looked away. "I don't exactly enjoy company either you know. It's much better to be jealous at a distance."
Marin just closed her eyes and curled up on Parsee's lap. She was feeling tired again, with all the heat around her. It wasn't the same warmth as her family, but it was pleasant all the same.
She gave in to her feelings and went to sleep in Parsee's warm embrace.
Parsee watched the young girl's form slowly fade away as the youkai's existence dissipated. In the end all that remained was a small skull, the focus the creature had built herself around.
She picked up the skull and looked into the eye sockets. She'd warned the girl repeatedly, but it had come to nothing. Still the girl had made her choice willingly.
And Marin had seemed so happy.
Parsee hugged the skull to her chest. She smiled, the first real smile that had crossed her face in a long time. "I think I'm a little jealous."