-bows gratefully- Thank you to all you reviewers, you made my weeks when I was stuck on crutches:

kikyo13: I am glad you like it, but I'm very sorry. Hiei is not in this story. Please don't hurt me!

Samantha: I know you can't!

FireFox: Aren't I telling you now? And thanks very much for the compliment!

Grateful as always, so keep reviewing! I live for reviews! And as a reminder: Cura is Kurama without memories, ok?

BathHouse of Spirits Ch. 5: Evening Wake-Up

Cura reluctantly opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep soon after entering this room, but for the rest of the night had tossed and turned frantically. When he did fall asleep all he did was dream about people whose names he didn't know. Finally giving up on getting any good sleep whatsoever, Cura had forced his eyes open. When he did so he got a pounding headache and sudden case of disorientation.

Clamping a hand over his eyes, Cura struggled to get up off the futon. When he finally managed to sit up, he slowly took his hand off his eyes. Blinking, Cura got off the futon and stood up. Walking in a slightly drunken manner, he made his way to a sliding door opposite the one that led into the hallway. Cura found the handle on the door and slid it open. He was greeted by a setting sun and an even larger headache. Staggering out onto the balcony which the door had revealed, Cura took several deep breaths of air and felt his headache subside a little. The wind rushed through his long hair, and Cura began to feel like he was missing something important. Sighing heavily, he returned to the room to get dressed.

The uniforms of a male Bath House worker had been laid out on his futon the previous night. Cura picked up the shirt and pants and pressed them against his body to check the sizing. The pants were fine, but the shirt appeared to be too big. He went to the closet by the futon and began to rummage through it for another, smaller, shirt. It took him several minutes to find one and then put the shirts back neatly into the closet. However, now that he had an outfit that fit him, Cura began to change out of his street clothes.

Cura pulled off his trench coat and tossed it in the corner. It was soon followed by his black T-shirt, jeans, socks and shoes. Now standing in his black boxers, Cura knelt down and picked up the blue pants. He quickly pulled them on and tied them loosely at his waist, noting that they could be rolled up and tied just below the knees. Cura took a black shrug used for protecting the arms and put it on, being sure to fasten the straps across his chest. The shrug was very form fitting and clung to every muscle in his arms and chest, yet Cura found it very easy to move in. He then took the white, kimono-style shirt and slung it over his shoulders. Tying it at the sides and then tucking it into the pants, he could now tightly re-tie the pants so they would not fall off while he was working. Cura rolled the pants to his knees and secured the rolls with drawstrings. Finally finished dressing, he went to the balcony and stood by the railing, waiting for Lin to arrive.

The sun was half-way over the horizon when Cura heard a soft knock sound at his door. Cura turned and leaned back against the balcony rail as Lin slid open the door and entered. She didn't seem to notice him standing there at first, because she immediately began to talk and all her comments were directed at the futon.

"Alright, rookie! Time to rise and shine,: she said to the futon, kicking it roughly. Lin set down a bucket she was carrying and began to take things out of it. "I have a hair brush and hair ribbon for you to use. A word of advice from me to you: stay clean and Yubaba will like you all the more. She wants guests to see healthy and clean employees and baths. It gives a good impression, you know? Hey, you up yet?"

"Yes," Cura said finally from his spot on the balcony, causing her to jump and spin toward the balcony. When she finally saw him, she gasped and her jaw dropped. ""W-what?" Cura nervously scratched the back of his head, wondering what he did to cause her reaction.

"N-nothing! You just looked like someone familiar for a second, that's all. The sun makes you hair glow and it just reminded me of him." Lin paused to mentally slap herself before beckoning him to come over to her.

"Here. Brush out your hair and tie it back," She said as she gave him the brush and ribbon.

Cura accepted the items. Moving quickly, he brushed out his hair in long, fast strokes. There were no knots in his hair, so there was no real need to brush it, yet he did it anyway out of habit. He grabbed the white ribbon off the floor where he had placed it and tied his hair back into a low ponytail. There were a few loose tendrils by his ears that refused to be pulled back, other than that his hair was all out of his face. Upon finishing, he made a move to give the brush back to Lin, but she shook her head.

"No, you keep it. I have my own." She picked up her bucket and moved to the hallway door. But before she opened it, Lin reached back into the bucket and pulled out a very long ribbon. "Tie back your sleeves, you don't want them getting in the way of work, do you?"

Cura did as he was instructed. Lin opened the door and led him out into the hallway. They went down the same hallway she had led him down earlier that morning. Cura was shocked to fins himself memorizing every turn they took and every path the followed, but he didn't know why he was doing it.

Eventually, after taking several lifts and stairs, they got to the level where the workers' foreman was. The foreman was a fat frog with a mustache. He sat on a very tall stool and before and enormous desk. Cura had to crane his neck back very far and back up a few paces in order to see him properly.

"Good morning, foreman." Lin bowed. Cura followed her lead after getting a painful stomp on his foot. "Where do we work today?"

"Orders form the top. You are to take the new kid and scrub the floors of the entryway in preparation for the guests first. After breakfast, Lin, you go back to your standard duties. The boy will have to go up front and take care of specific customers pointed out to him by Yubaba herself." The frog croaked. Cura saw that as various slugs and frogs came up to the foreman, he would give them red slabs of wood with symbols on them. Cura was curious as to what they were, but did not ask. The foreman looked down at them and said sharply, "What are you doing, standing there? Get going."

Lin tapped Cura on the shoulder to get his attention. "Come on, kid." The two of them walked to the front hall where the guests entered the Bath House for the first time. The entry way was a simple, wood paneled room with carpeting from door to bathing area. There were several slugs already at work when Lin and Cura entered. Whispers erupted when the other slugs saw Cura. Lin just rolled her eyes, gave him a bucket and rags and told him to fill the bucket with water. She pointed at the faucet fixed behind some loose paneling.

As Cura walked across the hall to the faucet, he heard the barely-concealed whispers of the slugs.

"Look at him!"

"Gorgeous!"

"Wonder why he's working with us?"

"Who cares?"

"We get to work with him!"

Cura tried very hard to ignore the whispers and surprised himself when he managed to tune them out entirely. He felt as though he had spent a lifetime of doing this, but had no idea where the feeling had come from. Sighing softly, Cura resigned himself to looking down at the bucket he was supposed to be filling. Finally realizing that he had not turned the faucet on, he quickly reached over and turned the spicket to the on position. After doing so, he went back to staring at the bottom of the bucket.

The bottom of the bucket was black with the tar used to make it waterproof. As the water poured into the bucket, it swirled around in an enchanting manner. The light danced across the dark water, and Cura began to imagine that, instead of water, there was a figure with long, silky, black hair. The creature, whose face and body could not be seen because of the hair, kept twirling in a circle causing it's hair to ripple in the wind. Cura almost herd a deep laugh from the back of his mind. There was a friendly ring to it, like an acquaintance long forgotten.

He reached over to the spicket and turned the water flow off. Cura sighed again. This was turning into a day full of deja-vu, and it was starting to bother him. If he was getting the feelings of having seen or done something before, why couldn't he remember? Cura shook his head to clear his thoughts. Determining that getting the job done first was more important than meaningless thoughts from no where. He picked the bucket up out of the sink and walked slowly back to Lin.

When Cura got to Lin and set the bucket down in front of her, the giggling that had surrounded him upon walking back turned into a hiss. He caught such phrases as "How dare she make him do all the hard work!" and even more about how lucky Lin was. She sighed, rolled her eyes again, and turned to the other workers. "If you're finished giggling about stupid little things, get back to work!" Lin practically shouted. "This entryway has to be spotless within the hour!"

The other workers, taken aback slightly from this sudden outburst, began to grumble. A glare from Lin got them back to work, though. The started scrubbing and polishing the floors under Lin's cold glare. When she was satisfied that they were truly working, she turned back to Cura with a much softer look.

Cura soaked the rags in the water and was ringing them out when he decided to speak. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Lin asked, accepting the damp cloth from Cura.

"For making them behave the way they did because of my looks," he said softly, placing his cloth on the floor.

"Oh," Lin was visibly shocked by his response, but recovered quickly enough to stop him from running off to scrub. "Hold it. It's not your fault in the least. Whatever they did was their choice, so," She waved a dismissive hand at the other workers before adding, "Don't worry about it. Come one, let's finish this job so we can get breakfast."

Cura, still positioned to run and scrub, managed a very small smile. "All right."

"Great! Race you to the other wall and back!" She had barely said that before she was off, leaving Cura to scurry after her.


"I got a head start and you still beat me! No fair!" Lin complained to Cura. She had lost every time, even when she had a head start. "By the way, how did you beat me?"

"I just ran as fast as i could!" Cura said innocently with a big smile.

The group of workers had managed to get finished before the first guests had entered, meaning they could all eat breakfast. Lin led him to the small break room off the sides of the public bathing area. All food was to be received here by the workers only.

"We want two breakfasts," Lin told the frog in charge, holding up two fingers to emphasize her point.

The frog nodded and scooped rice, eggs and meat into two bowls from the large bins in front of him. He swiftly poured some sauce over them, stuck chopsticks into the rice and handed them over to Lin and Cura. Cura gave a small bow and Lin tilted her head slightly before taking the food. The two of them moved to a bench on the far side of the room so they could eat in place.

After a few minutes of eating, Cura asked, "Hey, Lin?" Lin grunted to show she was listening and went back to eating. "What exactly am I supposed to do after this?"

"Greeting a guest Yubaba chooses for you, escort that guest to an open bath, and then do whatever that guest tells you to do. Simple, really?"

"Oh, ok. I think I can do that."

"Don't be too confident yet, you never know what Yubaba has up her sleeve. She might just give you a really tough guest for fun."

Cura averted his eyes back to his food and tried to eat a few more bites but felt no appetite. Yubaba seemed to like doing things for fun, according to Lin, and money was first priority. The thought of her doing so much just for fun made him feel vaguely sick for some reason. He shoveled some more food into his mouth but tasted nothing.

"Cura! Where's Cura?" a frog screamed, rushing into the room. Cura, glad for a reason to stop eating, stood up. "There you are! Yubaba want you up front right now!" The frog grabbed Cura's arm and proceeded to drag him through the crowds of people into the entryway.

In the entryway which Cura had helped clean, several apparitions were filing through the door. They were greeted outside by some specially-appointed slugs and then shown around by the worker slugs and frogs. Yubaba stood off to one side, looking both grim and smug. Cura walked over to her and bowed politely.

"Well, Cura, I'm glad you came so fast. This is one customer I want none of my experienced workers dealing with. A demon has come to this Bath House, a rarity indeed. Out last demonic guests were well over 30 years ago. All the workers are scared of going near this one, but I don't want you to screw up. This one seems to be very powerful and we could really make some money off him," Yubaba said in her dry voice.

Cura bowed again and said quietly, "Yes ma'am."

"Ah, here he is now," Yubaba stated as she turned to the entry curtains. Cura turned as well.

A tall shadow could be seen outside the door and the click of it's boots sounded on the wooden planks of the bridge. The 'welcomes' of the greeter slugs suddenly got louder in badly-contained excitement or fear, Cura couldn't tell which. The boot clacks stopped just outside the drapes and a long fingered, pale hand pushed them aside before stepping in.

The demon was about seven feet tall with very long, black hair pulled back in a high ponytail fed through a witches hat. His face was sharp and expressions cold, but Cura could see some sort of light in his eyes. The outfit he wore consisted of an artfully torn vest, pant and waist coat. The demon had large wings that made his small, slender body seem bigger than it really was. He gazed around the entry way for a few minutes before entering it completely and allowing the curtains to fall shut behind him.

Cura let out a gasp of surprise as the demon walked towards him and Yubaba. The gold, silver and ruby pendent on his neck twinkled in the light and Yubaba eyed it eagerly. Cura had no idea why, but a sudden rage had erupted in him at the sight of Yubaba's greed. However, before he could do anything, the demon spoke.

"You the head witch here? I request a bath, and I will pay depending on service," he said coldly.

"Of course! Welcome!" Yubaba bowed and Cura followed, reluctantly. He wanted to see more of the demon and place his face to a name. He had to. Cura was positive he had seen this demon somewhere before.

Author's Note: Some of the clothing might have confused you so here is a small explanation. A shrug is like a shirt with the majority of the front and back cut out. It's just sleeves, think School of Rock or Princess Monoke for this one. Waist coat is exactly that: a coat around his waist. It is not 18th century style, it is a strip of cloth fastened around the waist. Simple, ne?

Wow, five pages...Please review?