A Legend Reborn
Chapter 14
"So Misao is the Seiryuu no Miko.... figures..."
"At least we know she's safe, though, right? I mean, she's alive and well. The Seiryuu warriors won't hurt her if she's their priestess."
"She'd be safer dead..."
"You can't mean that, Tetsuya!!"
"Get a hold of yourself, man! Think about what you're saying. That's your daughter in there!"
"Keisuke's right. Don't you have faith in your own daughter? Chisa tried to save her, but she couldn't! That's not her fault.... I'm sure she'll try again as soon as she can and they'll be back here before we know it...."
"And how would you know, Rei? You're new to this! You have no real idea what went on in there the first time! You just think you can come here and know everything... Well, it's a little harder than that.... No matter how smart you think you are, you'll never really understand...."
"I never said I knew everything and you know it! I know I wasn't around when you went through this the first time and I am new to this... but I'm trying to help as much as I can...."
"Tetsuya, we've made it through this before. We beat that cursed book once already... I know we can do it again."
"You can't give up on your daughter like that... You have to believe in her..."
Tetsuya rises from his seat silently. Picking up his coat and umbrella, he somberly makes his way towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" Rei asks.
"...for a walk...," he shrugs, closing the door behind him.
"Do you think we should go after him, Keisuke?"
"Let him go..." Keisuke says. "He needs some time by himself...."
***
Without fully realizing it, Chisa awakes from sleep. Not a very deep sleep, however. It is a sleep that leaves her still longing for rest.
"Hey, Chisa..."
She looks up to see Ryunosuke. She is on his horse, riding in front of him. They follow close behind Chichiri, Tasuki, and Shinta.
"How long did I sleep?" she asks rubbing her eyes.
"A few hours now...."
"A few hours...? Feels more like five minutes," she thinks.
"Where are we?" she asks.
"We're almost there..."
"There?"
"The town where Shyoka, Boushin, and Keiko are staying. We should reach it any minute now. We've been traveling all morning, but you've been asleep."
Chisa stretches her arms far out on each side, her mouth gaping open in an enormous yawn. She then flops back against Ryunosuke's chest with a sigh.
"I guess I haven't been much company on this trip," Chisa says.
"Don't worry about it," he says, "I like watching you sleep..."
Chisa smiles to herself.
"...you're pretty cute when you're not shoveling food in your mouth..."
Her smile changes quickly. She turns to him, fists raised. He puts up his hand as a sign that he surrenders. His smile quickly melts her anger and she smiles herself, falling back against him again. Realizing the true intentions of the joke, she forgives him.
"He's just trying to cheer me up...," she thinks, touching the flower still tucked behind her ear.
Chisa watches as the group begins to enter a small village. It is not a big or busy town. The houses are small huts. Children run freely in the dirt streets. There are a couple of stands set up for local merchants to display their wares. Women share old wives tales and gossip while cooking or hanging up clothes to dry while the men sit in the tavern swapping old war stories or trudge back home to their families carrying their prize catch from hunting or fishing all day.
"Chisa! Ryunosuke!"
"Keiko!"
The young seishi is running along side the horse. "Follow me! I'll show you where the inn is."
Ryunosuke moves his horse past the others to follow Keiko. "This way, guys," he calls out behind him, now leading the group.
They follow Keiko to the largest building in the town. It is the same as most of the other structures of the village, but it has two floors. They halt the horses in front of the building.
"Chisa! Ryunosuke!" Shyoka comes speeding from the inn, Mii-chan on her heels. She throws her arms around Chisa's neck.
"Shyoka!" Chisa returns the embrace.
"Thank the gods, you're okay! I was so worried!" Shyoka says. "Both of you!" she releases Chisa and welcomes Ryunosuke with a hug. Shyoka steps back and begins to wipe tears from her eyes. She goes on to greet Chichiri and Tasuki a bit more respectfully with a bow.
"I am pleased to see you have returned safely," Boushin says, exiting the inn in a more dignified and stately manor. He bows to them. Chisa, Ryunosuke, Chichiri, and Tasuki all return the bow.
"Oh, pardon me. I don't believe we've met...," Shyoka says to Shinta.
"Oh, I'll introduce everybody," Chisa says. "Everyone, this is Shinta. He's Chiriko, the last of the seven seishi."
"The last?" Tasuki says.
"When did you find the new Nuriko, no daa?"
"That's me!" Keiko announces.
"Oh, that's right! You were gone when Keiko joined us," Chisa says. "Keiko, this is Chichiri and Tasuki. Chichiri, Tasuki, this is Keiko, the new Nuriko."
"THE Chichiri and Tasuki?!" Keiko asks excitedly. "Does that mean you knew the first Nuriko?"
"Of course, no daa!"
"He was a good friend of ours," Tasuki says.
"I bet you know all kinds of cool stories about him!" she says, "Would you please tell me?"
"Why are you so interested in the first Nuriko, kid?" Tasuki asks.
"He was my uncle!" Keiko proudly exclaims.
"Y-your uncle, no daa....?"
The two older seishi begin to examine the little girl.
"Holy shit! It is!" Tasuki exclaims, "It's chibi Nuriko!!"
"Right down to the mole, no daa...."
Tasuki's eyes narrow a bit. "You are a girl, aren't you kid?"
"Of course I am!" Keiko says crossly. "Why do you ask?"
"But the seishi Nuriko is supposed to have strength," Tasuki says, "How could it be such a little girl....?"
"I'll have you know I'm almost thirteen!" Keiko says, "And I'm stronger than you could ever hope to be!" To prove her point, Keiko places her hand on the underside of one of the horse and lifts it over her head. When she has made her point absolutely clear, she carefully sets the bewildered animal back on all fours. "I got that from my uncle!"
"Yes, yes... Your uncle was quite strong, no daa..."
"Even if he was kinda queer..."
Keiko cocks her head to the side. "Queer....?"
"Uh... Never mind, never mind, no daa!" Chichiri says nervously, "Heh heh... I could tell you many stories about your uncle, no daa! Why don't you and I talk later, no daa? Right now we should get these bags to our room, no daa."
"Okay. I'll help you with that."
Tasuki begins to laugh to himself. "Hey! You should tell her the one about the time Nuriko fixed us all those Nuriko Specials of his and we all got so smashed that we-..."
"Tasuki, no daa!" Chichiri snaps, "I can't tell her about things like that, no daa!!"
"Why not? That's a great story!" Tasuki's voice fades as he walks further into the inn.
"We should join them in the inn. Now that all seven of the seishi have been gathered we need to have meeting and discuss the matters at hand," Boushin says.
"Would you please pardon us for a bit, Boushin?" Shyoka takes hold of Chisa's arm. "We have some catching up to do," she smiles.
"Very well. The meeting shall be postponed till dinner," he says, smiling back.
"Come on, Chisa. I know a great place where we can talk privately."
"Oh... okay..." Chisa allows herself to be dragged away.
"We'll be back in time for dinner!" Shyoka waves. She drags Chisa out of sight into the forest just outside the village.
Shyoka's little shadow, Mii-chan, follows closely behind, his tail waving and swaying proudly like a flag. He sniffs of the grass and flowers along the way, sneezing as one of them tickles his tiny pink nose.
When she's sure they're alone, Shyoka turns to Chisa. "I'm so happy you're back!" she hugs her again. The grin on her face stretches almost from ear to ear. "I've been needing to talk to you! I've missed you."
Mii-chan leaps and bounds through the tall grass chasing after a grasshopper.
"Well, you at least had Keiko," Chisa says, "I was with all guys! I've been needing someone to talk to, too...."
"Why don't you go first? Tell me about what happened," Shyoka seats herself on a fallen log and Chisa sits beside her. "How did things go with your friend?"
"M-my friend....?"
The feline stops suddenly and sits on his haunches watching Chisa.
"I'm guessing that it didn't go too well....," Shyoka's face becomes serious.
Chisa shakes her head. "Misao seemed okay,.... but I wasn't able to get her to come with me...," she sighs, "She's still in Kutou.... but I'm not gonna give up. I've got to save her somehow..."
Mii-chan carefully approaches the girls and leaps onto the large tree log they sit on, slipping a little on the moss. He manages to balance himself and cautiously crawls onto to Chisa's lap and settles there.
"I see...," Shyoka says thoughtfully.
"So how have you and Boushin and Keiko been?" Chisa says, stroking the cat. "Anything interesting happen while I was on my little side trip?"
"I-i-interesting...?" Shyoka's face suddenly becomes bright red. "Wh-what do you mean by 'interesting'?"
Mii-chan's ears twitch. He stares up at Shyoka with curious, yellow eyes.
"Something happened, didn't it? Tell me, tell me!"
"Well...," Shyoka touches her two index fingers together and flexes them back and forth.
"Let me guess...," she glares mischievously at Shyoka, "something between you and Boushin?"
Still watching her fingers, Shyoka's face reddens.
"He kissed you, didn't he?"
Shyoka's face becomes more crimson. A grin slowly grows on her face.
"I'm so happy for you!" Chisa squeals, throwing her arms around Shyoka's neck. "This is great!"
"I wanted to tell you about it so much...., but I am a bit shy about it...," Shyoka says, placing her hands on her blushing cheeks, "Of course I had Keiko, but... Chisa, you're my best friend! I've always been the listener... my patients come just to talk to me and tell me their problems. I don't mind dealing with other people's problems, but sometimes I need to vent... ya know? Get my feelings out. I keep them bottled up so much that sometimes I feel like I'm about to explode, but Chisa, you listened to me.... Nobody besides Mii-chan had done that before you.... and now Boushin.... I've never had much luck talking with guys... I've always been so incredibly shy, but when we were traveling together that first day I just couldn't help but want to tell him everything! We connect on so many levels... I just... I'm sorry, Chisa.... I guess I'm not making much sense, am I..."
"No, no, of course not! I totally understand."
"I've never been able to find anyone who understands me like you do.... My parents and friends mostly thought I was strange... I've been alone most of my life.... Mii-chan's been the only one I could depend on for so long...," she scratches the top of Mii-chan's head, "I'm really lucky to have him.... and now, because I'm one of the seishi, I have all these friends," she smiles. "You don't have any idea how much I worried about you... about what those people could have done to you... I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I'm really sorry about leaving like that...," Chisa says, "I guess I was selfish and I didn't think how it would affect any of you. I've made a lot of new friends recently, too... I consider all of you my friends, and Shyoka you are the best..., but Misao's been my friend ever since I can remember.... and I can't leave her alone... It's strange to suddenly be so far from her...."
"Well, I'm sure this Etsuko person will be able to help us out," Shyoka says, "She'll probably know a way to get you and your friend home."
"...home..." Chisa blinks.
"You should go back home, Chisa, for a little while at least. I'm sure your family is worried about you."
"I know... I do want to go home,... but I don't want to leave all of you...."
"Just promise me that you'll come back. Not just for me, but for Ryunosuke.... for all of us. You are the savior of this world after all." Shyoka holds her pinky finger up towards Chisa. "Promise?"
Chisa smiles. "I promise." She links her finger with Shyoka's and the pact is sealed.
Mii-chan moves to sit in-between the two. "Meow...," he says in an attempt to get attention.
He purrs loudly as both girls begin to pet him.
***
"Is your neck still bothering you, Keisuke?" Rei says in reply to her husband's moan as he rubs his neck with one hand.
"A little."
Rei lays the book open on the table. "Let me take care of that." She walks around the chair and standing behind him, Rei places her hands on her husband's shoulders.
"Thanks, Rei," he says, his form becoming more relaxed with every motion of her hands.
"No problem, dear," she says, "You've got so much tension building up back here...!"
"...I was thinking..." Keisuke says after a moment.
"What about?"
"It's just.... I was thinking about something... I remember back when Tetsuya and I first did this. We found out about the guy who brought the book to Japan."
"Oh really?"
"Back in the twenties.... I can't really remember his name, but I do remember that there was some mystery about him... I read that not long after finding this book he killed his daughter and then committed suicide... but no one ever understood why..."
"That's awful! The police never solved the case?"
"Not as far as I know. It was a long time ago...," he says, "I just started thinking about it.... The reason he killed his daughter.... he was trying to protect her from the book..."
Rei's massage stops suddenly.
The two sit in silence.
"Thanks, Rei. That feels much better," Keisuke says finally.
Her hands slide down and off his shoulder, her arms crossing at his chest. She rests her head next to his. "It's getting late. Why don't I fix something to eat?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll cook something."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Besides, I know Miaka's kitchen a little better. You just take a break. I'll have it done in no time." Keisuke rises from his seat and goes to the kitchen.
Rei follows. She leans back against a counter as Keisuke begins to gather pots and pans. "It really is getting late... shouldn't Tetsuya be back by now?"
"I imagine he'll come back when he's ready," Keisuke says, "He's got a lot of things on his mind..."
"I guess you're right."
***
The sun sets behind Shyoka and Chisa as they meander through the forest.
"It's getting dark," Shyoka says, "I bet it's about time for dinner back at the inn."
"Am I ever ready!" Chisa exclaims. "Is the food here good?"
"Oh, it's wonderful!"
"Really?!" Chisa wipes away a bit of drool. "Let's hurry back then!"
Shyoka giggles.
The dying flower behind Chisa's ear is suddenly swept away be a breeze and gently floats to the ground.
Chisa stares at the withered flower for a moment before she stoops to pick it up. "A bad omen...?" she wonders quietly to herself.
Mii-chan's ears twitch.
The pace at which he follows Chisa and Shyoka back to the inn slows. His pink nose pointed upward, he uses his powerful sense of smell to sniff the air. His back arches a bit as odors of danger and foreboding waft towards him. With a single leap, Mii-chan springs onto Shyoka's shoulder.
"Hey, Chisa, do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
"It smells like.... something is burning..."
"I think so... but... where is it coming from?"
"Is there a campsite around here?"
"I think it's coming from this way," Chisa walks in the direction of the smell.
"Look!" Shyoka points skyward.
Chisa's eyes follow to see thick, black smoke billowing towards and flooding the orange of the sunset sky above.
"Oh my...," Shyoka gasps, "You don't suppose...."
"The village!"
Chapter 14
"So Misao is the Seiryuu no Miko.... figures..."
"At least we know she's safe, though, right? I mean, she's alive and well. The Seiryuu warriors won't hurt her if she's their priestess."
"She'd be safer dead..."
"You can't mean that, Tetsuya!!"
"Get a hold of yourself, man! Think about what you're saying. That's your daughter in there!"
"Keisuke's right. Don't you have faith in your own daughter? Chisa tried to save her, but she couldn't! That's not her fault.... I'm sure she'll try again as soon as she can and they'll be back here before we know it...."
"And how would you know, Rei? You're new to this! You have no real idea what went on in there the first time! You just think you can come here and know everything... Well, it's a little harder than that.... No matter how smart you think you are, you'll never really understand...."
"I never said I knew everything and you know it! I know I wasn't around when you went through this the first time and I am new to this... but I'm trying to help as much as I can...."
"Tetsuya, we've made it through this before. We beat that cursed book once already... I know we can do it again."
"You can't give up on your daughter like that... You have to believe in her..."
Tetsuya rises from his seat silently. Picking up his coat and umbrella, he somberly makes his way towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" Rei asks.
"...for a walk...," he shrugs, closing the door behind him.
"Do you think we should go after him, Keisuke?"
"Let him go..." Keisuke says. "He needs some time by himself...."
***
Without fully realizing it, Chisa awakes from sleep. Not a very deep sleep, however. It is a sleep that leaves her still longing for rest.
"Hey, Chisa..."
She looks up to see Ryunosuke. She is on his horse, riding in front of him. They follow close behind Chichiri, Tasuki, and Shinta.
"How long did I sleep?" she asks rubbing her eyes.
"A few hours now...."
"A few hours...? Feels more like five minutes," she thinks.
"Where are we?" she asks.
"We're almost there..."
"There?"
"The town where Shyoka, Boushin, and Keiko are staying. We should reach it any minute now. We've been traveling all morning, but you've been asleep."
Chisa stretches her arms far out on each side, her mouth gaping open in an enormous yawn. She then flops back against Ryunosuke's chest with a sigh.
"I guess I haven't been much company on this trip," Chisa says.
"Don't worry about it," he says, "I like watching you sleep..."
Chisa smiles to herself.
"...you're pretty cute when you're not shoveling food in your mouth..."
Her smile changes quickly. She turns to him, fists raised. He puts up his hand as a sign that he surrenders. His smile quickly melts her anger and she smiles herself, falling back against him again. Realizing the true intentions of the joke, she forgives him.
"He's just trying to cheer me up...," she thinks, touching the flower still tucked behind her ear.
Chisa watches as the group begins to enter a small village. It is not a big or busy town. The houses are small huts. Children run freely in the dirt streets. There are a couple of stands set up for local merchants to display their wares. Women share old wives tales and gossip while cooking or hanging up clothes to dry while the men sit in the tavern swapping old war stories or trudge back home to their families carrying their prize catch from hunting or fishing all day.
"Chisa! Ryunosuke!"
"Keiko!"
The young seishi is running along side the horse. "Follow me! I'll show you where the inn is."
Ryunosuke moves his horse past the others to follow Keiko. "This way, guys," he calls out behind him, now leading the group.
They follow Keiko to the largest building in the town. It is the same as most of the other structures of the village, but it has two floors. They halt the horses in front of the building.
"Chisa! Ryunosuke!" Shyoka comes speeding from the inn, Mii-chan on her heels. She throws her arms around Chisa's neck.
"Shyoka!" Chisa returns the embrace.
"Thank the gods, you're okay! I was so worried!" Shyoka says. "Both of you!" she releases Chisa and welcomes Ryunosuke with a hug. Shyoka steps back and begins to wipe tears from her eyes. She goes on to greet Chichiri and Tasuki a bit more respectfully with a bow.
"I am pleased to see you have returned safely," Boushin says, exiting the inn in a more dignified and stately manor. He bows to them. Chisa, Ryunosuke, Chichiri, and Tasuki all return the bow.
"Oh, pardon me. I don't believe we've met...," Shyoka says to Shinta.
"Oh, I'll introduce everybody," Chisa says. "Everyone, this is Shinta. He's Chiriko, the last of the seven seishi."
"The last?" Tasuki says.
"When did you find the new Nuriko, no daa?"
"That's me!" Keiko announces.
"Oh, that's right! You were gone when Keiko joined us," Chisa says. "Keiko, this is Chichiri and Tasuki. Chichiri, Tasuki, this is Keiko, the new Nuriko."
"THE Chichiri and Tasuki?!" Keiko asks excitedly. "Does that mean you knew the first Nuriko?"
"Of course, no daa!"
"He was a good friend of ours," Tasuki says.
"I bet you know all kinds of cool stories about him!" she says, "Would you please tell me?"
"Why are you so interested in the first Nuriko, kid?" Tasuki asks.
"He was my uncle!" Keiko proudly exclaims.
"Y-your uncle, no daa....?"
The two older seishi begin to examine the little girl.
"Holy shit! It is!" Tasuki exclaims, "It's chibi Nuriko!!"
"Right down to the mole, no daa...."
Tasuki's eyes narrow a bit. "You are a girl, aren't you kid?"
"Of course I am!" Keiko says crossly. "Why do you ask?"
"But the seishi Nuriko is supposed to have strength," Tasuki says, "How could it be such a little girl....?"
"I'll have you know I'm almost thirteen!" Keiko says, "And I'm stronger than you could ever hope to be!" To prove her point, Keiko places her hand on the underside of one of the horse and lifts it over her head. When she has made her point absolutely clear, she carefully sets the bewildered animal back on all fours. "I got that from my uncle!"
"Yes, yes... Your uncle was quite strong, no daa..."
"Even if he was kinda queer..."
Keiko cocks her head to the side. "Queer....?"
"Uh... Never mind, never mind, no daa!" Chichiri says nervously, "Heh heh... I could tell you many stories about your uncle, no daa! Why don't you and I talk later, no daa? Right now we should get these bags to our room, no daa."
"Okay. I'll help you with that."
Tasuki begins to laugh to himself. "Hey! You should tell her the one about the time Nuriko fixed us all those Nuriko Specials of his and we all got so smashed that we-..."
"Tasuki, no daa!" Chichiri snaps, "I can't tell her about things like that, no daa!!"
"Why not? That's a great story!" Tasuki's voice fades as he walks further into the inn.
"We should join them in the inn. Now that all seven of the seishi have been gathered we need to have meeting and discuss the matters at hand," Boushin says.
"Would you please pardon us for a bit, Boushin?" Shyoka takes hold of Chisa's arm. "We have some catching up to do," she smiles.
"Very well. The meeting shall be postponed till dinner," he says, smiling back.
"Come on, Chisa. I know a great place where we can talk privately."
"Oh... okay..." Chisa allows herself to be dragged away.
"We'll be back in time for dinner!" Shyoka waves. She drags Chisa out of sight into the forest just outside the village.
Shyoka's little shadow, Mii-chan, follows closely behind, his tail waving and swaying proudly like a flag. He sniffs of the grass and flowers along the way, sneezing as one of them tickles his tiny pink nose.
When she's sure they're alone, Shyoka turns to Chisa. "I'm so happy you're back!" she hugs her again. The grin on her face stretches almost from ear to ear. "I've been needing to talk to you! I've missed you."
Mii-chan leaps and bounds through the tall grass chasing after a grasshopper.
"Well, you at least had Keiko," Chisa says, "I was with all guys! I've been needing someone to talk to, too...."
"Why don't you go first? Tell me about what happened," Shyoka seats herself on a fallen log and Chisa sits beside her. "How did things go with your friend?"
"M-my friend....?"
The feline stops suddenly and sits on his haunches watching Chisa.
"I'm guessing that it didn't go too well....," Shyoka's face becomes serious.
Chisa shakes her head. "Misao seemed okay,.... but I wasn't able to get her to come with me...," she sighs, "She's still in Kutou.... but I'm not gonna give up. I've got to save her somehow..."
Mii-chan carefully approaches the girls and leaps onto the large tree log they sit on, slipping a little on the moss. He manages to balance himself and cautiously crawls onto to Chisa's lap and settles there.
"I see...," Shyoka says thoughtfully.
"So how have you and Boushin and Keiko been?" Chisa says, stroking the cat. "Anything interesting happen while I was on my little side trip?"
"I-i-interesting...?" Shyoka's face suddenly becomes bright red. "Wh-what do you mean by 'interesting'?"
Mii-chan's ears twitch. He stares up at Shyoka with curious, yellow eyes.
"Something happened, didn't it? Tell me, tell me!"
"Well...," Shyoka touches her two index fingers together and flexes them back and forth.
"Let me guess...," she glares mischievously at Shyoka, "something between you and Boushin?"
Still watching her fingers, Shyoka's face reddens.
"He kissed you, didn't he?"
Shyoka's face becomes more crimson. A grin slowly grows on her face.
"I'm so happy for you!" Chisa squeals, throwing her arms around Shyoka's neck. "This is great!"
"I wanted to tell you about it so much...., but I am a bit shy about it...," Shyoka says, placing her hands on her blushing cheeks, "Of course I had Keiko, but... Chisa, you're my best friend! I've always been the listener... my patients come just to talk to me and tell me their problems. I don't mind dealing with other people's problems, but sometimes I need to vent... ya know? Get my feelings out. I keep them bottled up so much that sometimes I feel like I'm about to explode, but Chisa, you listened to me.... Nobody besides Mii-chan had done that before you.... and now Boushin.... I've never had much luck talking with guys... I've always been so incredibly shy, but when we were traveling together that first day I just couldn't help but want to tell him everything! We connect on so many levels... I just... I'm sorry, Chisa.... I guess I'm not making much sense, am I..."
"No, no, of course not! I totally understand."
"I've never been able to find anyone who understands me like you do.... My parents and friends mostly thought I was strange... I've been alone most of my life.... Mii-chan's been the only one I could depend on for so long...," she scratches the top of Mii-chan's head, "I'm really lucky to have him.... and now, because I'm one of the seishi, I have all these friends," she smiles. "You don't have any idea how much I worried about you... about what those people could have done to you... I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I'm really sorry about leaving like that...," Chisa says, "I guess I was selfish and I didn't think how it would affect any of you. I've made a lot of new friends recently, too... I consider all of you my friends, and Shyoka you are the best..., but Misao's been my friend ever since I can remember.... and I can't leave her alone... It's strange to suddenly be so far from her...."
"Well, I'm sure this Etsuko person will be able to help us out," Shyoka says, "She'll probably know a way to get you and your friend home."
"...home..." Chisa blinks.
"You should go back home, Chisa, for a little while at least. I'm sure your family is worried about you."
"I know... I do want to go home,... but I don't want to leave all of you...."
"Just promise me that you'll come back. Not just for me, but for Ryunosuke.... for all of us. You are the savior of this world after all." Shyoka holds her pinky finger up towards Chisa. "Promise?"
Chisa smiles. "I promise." She links her finger with Shyoka's and the pact is sealed.
Mii-chan moves to sit in-between the two. "Meow...," he says in an attempt to get attention.
He purrs loudly as both girls begin to pet him.
***
"Is your neck still bothering you, Keisuke?" Rei says in reply to her husband's moan as he rubs his neck with one hand.
"A little."
Rei lays the book open on the table. "Let me take care of that." She walks around the chair and standing behind him, Rei places her hands on her husband's shoulders.
"Thanks, Rei," he says, his form becoming more relaxed with every motion of her hands.
"No problem, dear," she says, "You've got so much tension building up back here...!"
"...I was thinking..." Keisuke says after a moment.
"What about?"
"It's just.... I was thinking about something... I remember back when Tetsuya and I first did this. We found out about the guy who brought the book to Japan."
"Oh really?"
"Back in the twenties.... I can't really remember his name, but I do remember that there was some mystery about him... I read that not long after finding this book he killed his daughter and then committed suicide... but no one ever understood why..."
"That's awful! The police never solved the case?"
"Not as far as I know. It was a long time ago...," he says, "I just started thinking about it.... The reason he killed his daughter.... he was trying to protect her from the book..."
Rei's massage stops suddenly.
The two sit in silence.
"Thanks, Rei. That feels much better," Keisuke says finally.
Her hands slide down and off his shoulder, her arms crossing at his chest. She rests her head next to his. "It's getting late. Why don't I fix something to eat?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll cook something."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Besides, I know Miaka's kitchen a little better. You just take a break. I'll have it done in no time." Keisuke rises from his seat and goes to the kitchen.
Rei follows. She leans back against a counter as Keisuke begins to gather pots and pans. "It really is getting late... shouldn't Tetsuya be back by now?"
"I imagine he'll come back when he's ready," Keisuke says, "He's got a lot of things on his mind..."
"I guess you're right."
***
The sun sets behind Shyoka and Chisa as they meander through the forest.
"It's getting dark," Shyoka says, "I bet it's about time for dinner back at the inn."
"Am I ever ready!" Chisa exclaims. "Is the food here good?"
"Oh, it's wonderful!"
"Really?!" Chisa wipes away a bit of drool. "Let's hurry back then!"
Shyoka giggles.
The dying flower behind Chisa's ear is suddenly swept away be a breeze and gently floats to the ground.
Chisa stares at the withered flower for a moment before she stoops to pick it up. "A bad omen...?" she wonders quietly to herself.
Mii-chan's ears twitch.
The pace at which he follows Chisa and Shyoka back to the inn slows. His pink nose pointed upward, he uses his powerful sense of smell to sniff the air. His back arches a bit as odors of danger and foreboding waft towards him. With a single leap, Mii-chan springs onto Shyoka's shoulder.
"Hey, Chisa, do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
"It smells like.... something is burning..."
"I think so... but... where is it coming from?"
"Is there a campsite around here?"
"I think it's coming from this way," Chisa walks in the direction of the smell.
"Look!" Shyoka points skyward.
Chisa's eyes follow to see thick, black smoke billowing towards and flooding the orange of the sunset sky above.
"Oh my...," Shyoka gasps, "You don't suppose...."
"The village!"