Underwater Savior
Chapter 6: Why?
by LadyRainStarDragon
Not mine. I can only wish. If you've seen the movie, then you know which characters aren't in it.
Chihiro had snuck her way down to the river again. She was going to be in such trouble with her mom when she was found out. Really, Chihiro was pretty sure anybody her own age would sneak out and do something. Anything was better than playing quietly in her room while mommy was working. Even tripping would make enough noise to make her mom claim she didn't want her to work.
Lily was gone to visit her grandparents for a while, so Chihiro was rather lonely. Sure, she knew all the other kids in town, but she didn't really consider any others friends. Mostly they bullied her because they were older. Oh well, she'd rather walk down by the river anyway. Chihiro paused to sit on a rock and look around.
The sky was so blue today, she thought of a sapphire she had seen in the museum the Tanakas had taken her to visit once. The occasional fluffy white cloud drifted by on currents high up in the sky. She couldn't quite understand that concept, but thought they were similar to a river. At least, it's the way she thought of it. The grass was a lovely green, due to the water that it rarely had shortage of. The leaves on the trees were a lovely green as well, but soon enough they would begin to turn. She could hear the river rushing happily along, yet the longer she was there, she heard it begin to change. She wondered if rivers could take note of who was near them. It was beginning to sound . . . amused?
Closing her eyes, she leaned back slightly to listen to the wind. She liked how it felt as it danced by her cheeks, and loved to feel the sun warm her. Shortly, the temperature dropped a little bit. She wondered who would be blocking her sun when everyone was busy or gone.
Opening her eyes, she noticed that there definitely was a shadow falling across her. She also found herself looking at the sun blockage.
"Wandering off again today, are we?"
"Mom's working again. So, I came out here so that she can have quiet."
"Alone? Where is your father?"
"The office."
Kohakunushi sat down beside the child and placed his staff across his knees. It was beginning to look like another day of keeping an eye on Chihiro. There was no way that he was going to let her wander around without a chaperone. He'd seen the strange dog again earlier that day. It was beginning to look rather hungry. He didn't want to find out if this dog demon liked human flesh.
"What about your friend's family? You could go play over there. I would be happy to walk you there."
Chihiro's face fell and she shook her head. "They've gone to visit Lily's grandma."
"Oh."
Kohakunushi was definitely going to be spending his day with Chihiro. His original plans had been to walk alongside the river observing its surface and shores, and to keep an eye on the forest for a bit. He couldn't really put off this patrol any longer.
"Would you like to come with me on my walk?"
An hour later, a young man in ornate kimono could be seen holding the hand of a very young child. Even though it could be seen he was walking much slower than his usual pace, it still had an odd elegance. The slightly chubby child next to him would occasionally gaze up at him in awe. To anybody watching, it would be obvious this man once walked with small ones often. He could pass off as a professional babysitter if there were more male babysitters.
"Where are we going?"
"Walking along the river for a bit."
"Why?"
"To observe it."
"Do you have to do it often?"
"Yes."
Chihiro was quiet for a bit. She wondered why he would have to walk the river often. She remembered meeting him in the water, not beside it.
"Do you live in the water?"
He stopped and regarded the human child. Very smart of her, he thought. He had never come out and told her that he lived in the river. He hadn't even actually told her that he was a river spirit.
"You could say that."
"So then you have to check both the river and the shores for garbage, to keep your home clean, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't you tell people where you live? I'm sure that people would be more respectful of your home if they knew it was inhabited."
Where was this coming from all of a sudden? When they took walks together, she usually just enjoyed the scenery or talked him into letting her ride on his back.
"It's not that simple. Most people wouldn't understand anymore."
"Why?"
He picked the child up. The teachers would just love her when she got to school. He could picture her interrupting the whole class progression with that one question. For some reason, it brought him more hope in humanity.
"How many people do you know who live in a river?"
"Just you."
"Don't you think others would find it odd?"
Chihiro shook her head.
"I'll explain when you're older then if Koji doesn't beat me to it. For now, just enjoy the fact that you see what is. Now then, let's speed this up a little so that we can get some lunch into you."
With that, he picked her up and put her on his hip. Chihiro automatically snuggled into him and yawned widely, causing the young Kami to laugh as they set off.
"And then it's nap time for you."
A snapping twig caused him to suddenly become quiet. Turning in the direction the noise had come from, he could neither see or sense anything out of the ordinary. Pointing himself towards Koji's home, Kohakunushi silently hoped he was just being paranoid. He was still going to have a talk with the Priest however.
The further they went however, the more often he heard noises behind them. Soon, he began to smell the occasional whiff of dog. He was now quite sure he wasn't being paranoid. His pace increased, and his charge's head suddenly faced back the way they had come.
"There's something back there, isn't there Kohaku?"
One curt nod was his answer as he concentrated on getting Chihiro to where it was safe.
Back at the Ogino household, Chihiro's mother was sitting in her home office. Immersed in the report she was working on, she barely registered when the phone on her desk began ringing. After a minute, she noticed that there was a noise distracting her. Reaching out to silence it, her hand found the headset. Wondering when it had begun, she gingerly placed it to her ear.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Honey, are you sitting down?"
Confused as to why her husband would be calling her at 11:30 from work, she nodded her head before realizing he couldn't see it. "Hai."
"I just lost my job."
"Oh, well then we've got another two weeks to find you another. You didn't like that job anyway."
"No, I just lost my job. As of now. I was fired honey."
It was a good thing she was already sitting down. If she hadn't been she would have fallen and hurt herself. She was having trouble staying sitting up as it was. Confusion once again filled her.
"But why? You devoted your whole life to that job. Do all the late nights at the office mean nothing to them? What about the time you spend at home looking over files or trying to unwind in front of the TV, having no time for your daughter or wife? What about the fact that our whole lives depend on that paycheck?"
"The boss took all that into consideration honey. There is nothing he can do. It was voted on by the board. They felt that I posed a hazard to the future of the company. My severance pay is the equivalent of two months pay. All we can do now is pray that I can find a job before the time is up."
A snort of disdain reached Akio's ears through the phone.
"You and your old-fashioned ideas. Praying does nothing. The Gods are dead."
Abruptly, there was a click, then a steady drone assaulted his head. Gingerly, he nested the headset into the cradle once more and resumed packing up his office. He picked up a picture of he and his wife when they had first been dating in college. It had been taken before Yuukio's sister had drowned in a river on the other side of Japan.
"Where is the girl that I married? The one who insisted we visit every shrine in Tokyo and believed the Kami did all that they could? What if your sister hadn't drowned at all, but instead had been spirited away by the Kami of that river? Or is that why you are so bitter Wife?"
Carefully wrapping the picture and its frame in a bit of tissue, he placed this last treasured item in his box. Reverently picking it up, he moved to switch off the light. Defeated but not conquered, he left behind the office and the only job that he had known since his graduation. If only things were simple again, and he could talk to the friend he had once had before his classmates had called him a dreamer. Akio then mentally beat himself up for thinking of his childhood imaginary friend so wistfully.
Perhaps he would have been less hard on himself if he had realized that imaginary friend was real, and had spent so long protecting his precious daughter. A human can only do so much.
Koji was busy in the kitchen. He was having the oddest urge for fish, so he was busy cooking some. Fish did not normally appeal to him at all, it tasted fishy, and he always managed to miss a bone somewhere. Company must be coming. It was a good thing he was also making rice and tea.
The windows suddenly began to shake. Cups in the cupboards rattled and clanked. Spinning around, he saw the door thrown open, and a form hurtled through, only to turn about and slam the door shut. The form leaned on the door wearily as a smaller one disengaged from its side and slid down, running towards him with arms outspread. Things then stopped shaking about.
"Grandpa!"
"Chihiro! What are you doing here?"
Wrapping her arms around one of his legs, she began to tell him, nearly washing him away with the rapidity of her words.
"Mommy was busy working and wanted quiet so I snuck out to go play by the river. Then Kohaku found me and we went for a walk because he needed to survey the banks again. I got tired so he carried me. On our way here something started making funny noises behind us and he started acting funny, then he ran the whole way here and now here we are and he can run really fast!"
"Uh, okay." Koji struggled not to shake his head to clear it.
During this exchange, Kohakunushi had locked the door and put a barrier around the house while he was at it. He exchanged glances with the Priest.
"I'll tell you about it after Chihiro takes her nap. First we need to fill her belly."
Sniffing delicately, he continued.
"Please tell me that's real fish and not the fake fish that you served me last time. Tofu does not make good fish."
Koji looked sickened.
"I don't see how Yuukio could eat that stuff, much less think I could. It's definitely real fish."
Koji went about setting places and serving food. Unknown to him, but suspected by his Kami, a set of golden eyes watched through a window. Eyes that held a slight trace of red for not being able to break the barrier. Eyes filled for a lust of what they would do once he caught the river spirit with his guard down once more.