Hauru no Ugoku Shiro

I lay in the futon, concentrating on the knots in the wood in front of me.

I was frozen. I couldn't shake the feeling of someone looking, staring at me. I just looked at a spot in the wall. I was concentrating on a wood grain pattern. Trying so hard to ignore the feeling of someone in here with me.

I curled deeper into the blankets, and shut my eyes embracing the warm dark of my blankets. But however warm it became, for some reason I couldn't stop shaking.

I heard a growl.

I took three deep breaths, breathing in the dusty scent of the blankets letting the feeling of warmth spread over me. It was hard to calm down and heart would cease beating.

"Hey, hey… You awake?" I felt a slight shake of my body and I shot straight up.

I heard a slight giggle and looked to my left to see Kai. I blushed. I must look like a fool. Was it all a dream?

She patted the futon and smiled.

"You never told me you were here before." She sat down onto her rump and handed me a bowl filled with rice with chopsticks poking through it, steam from the bowl was making misty clouds in the air. I held it in my hands gently and brought my legs out from underneath me and began to eat. It was soft and sticky, and there were two sweet biscuits on the side.

"You seem… Agitated." Kai observed thoughtfully. She was rubbing her wrists, they seemed red raw.

"No. Just tired." I smiled at her. And she just nodded, and looked out the window.

I was curious about the marks on her arms but decided not to ask.

It wasn't my business anyway.

I just sat in silence as Kai talked about what I had to do later.

She didn't know all she knew was that I had to accompany Haku anywhere he wished. And I could not refuse any task given, or face the risk of being changed into an animal (this world has ceased to change in my eyes).

"Yosha!" Her high pitched voice echoed in my mind and I felt the urge to laugh at her silliness. I looked up at Kai, I had just began eating her own sweet biscuits and she was giving me a cheesy grin, it was infectious and I could not help but smile back with mirth.

"Ok, stay here I'll go get you your yukata." Kai patted my leg and winked.

"Its Okay!" She said in a high squeak, which could rival the Tokyo slang I so often heard at school.

"Thankyou," I said softly. She nodded and left humming a tune under her breath.

I sighed and place my chopstick on top of the bowl, and continued to nibble on the biscuit.

The sun was shining brightly through the window now. The beams of light showed clearly the dust particles floating through the air, I folded up the futon all the while thinking about the sound of growling… And yet now that I think about it… It seemed more like a loud purr, reminding me more of some great cat.

Yet it was not that sound that sent fear to me. It was the fact that it was watching me.

It gave me shivers just thinking about it. But I couldn't worry about that now could I? I was already in a state of trouble with Haku, and his somehow acquired amnesia.

I picked up the blankets and soft pillow and folded them. They were so soft with use and I smelt a woodchip smell upon them that probably came from where they were stored.

Now I could look around the room with out queasiness, I could see that only three others lived here (unlike the female servant quarters I was in before), all of them girls, and each had the opportunity to decorate their 'area' in whatever way they wished.

I heard the sliding of the door behind me and the rattling of it being closed.

Kai tumbled in with my clothes, an assortment of ingredients in a basket and two wooden trays laden with strawberries.

"Ok, put these on." She sighed, obviously displeased with something, I took the clothes away from her and was immersed in the feel of the silky smooth fabric of the Yukata, it was lovely shade of grey, almost silver in certain angles of light with a dark green obi.

"Master wishes to have some Mochi later if it can be prepared quickly enough." Kai flicked her hair behind her ears and I proceeded to change.

I smiled to myself. I found it amusing that Kohaku enjoyed the sweets.

Now, I myself, am actually quite partial to Mochi. But I usually only eat it a certain times of the year like New Year or maybe at Christmas, but to have the chance to eat it early and not be bought from the store was a delicious chance. Kai had already collected the ingredients, all of them packed into a woven basket.

Sweet rice flour, sugar, salt, kinako, red bean paste, and the batter to be spread around the tube-shaped-cake pan. The recipe is traditional- pounding, and we'll be using a small brick stove to cook it that was further down the hall in the main cooking room.

"Kai-Chan!" A Kitsune girl tumbled through the door, short in height and with short black hair tufted around her head. She was wearing the typical light pink Hakama that I myself had to wear in the occasion I was serving in the main bath house of Aburaya.

"Hana-san… You don't have to shout, idiot, and bow to Lady Chi." Kai arched her eyebrow and came around me to tie the obi around my waist.

"Excuse my entry Lady Chi." She did a perfect bow and I returned it, she was blushing from what I could tell and the tips of her ears were scarlet.

She looked back to Kai and began to babble about some scrolls going missing from the library and that the head house keeper was getting quite frustrated at each little thing and she had beaten Ken and Aka (whomever they may be), and she had to in form everyone in all the houses and main bath house to keep an eye out for those scrolls (rumour had it that Yubaaba had some spells in there).

I was intrigued and listened to her gossip with interest whilst Kai brushed it off with a casual wave of her hand.

"I'll talk about it with you later Hana-san, but you honestly shouldn't listen to all that you hear." Kai put her hands on her hips and stood as if to say that she was superior over Hana.

Hana pouted and with a final bow she left the room.

"Idiot." I heard Kai breath out. She seemed so tired, the poor girl, she scratched her head, and turned to me.

"Sorry about that" She gave a stiff bow and picked up the basket with ingredients.

"Its okay" I said and she gave me a kind smile and we left for Haku's chamber.

I felt more confident than the last time. I don't know why but my back was straight and I looked straight ahead and I only felt the slightest traits of fear itching in the back of my mind.

Apart from that. I was totally ok.

Kai announced me and I entered his room.