For spirits and for humans, time works in different ways.
Growing Up
It was something he hadn't even considered, which of course made it all that much worse when it hit him so hard it knocked the breath out of him, even though it was just an idea, and he didn't need to breathe anyway. But there it was, staring back at him from the marker, the characters carved into it: her name. It sat on the top of the shrine, recently polished, with a small offering before it. Dazed, he looked at the girl his age - but oh, so much younger, really - as she straightened from the respectful bow. "How long...?" he asked.
"A hundred years or so," she said. "A minor deity of travel and lost children. You know, in the same style as Jizo-sama." She smiled, but something about his expression made her become more serious.
"When I knew her, she--" He could not continue. Had it been so long, by these human standards? It didn't seem so, but there was the marker, still.
"You're the boy in the legend, aren't you?" she said, gently for a girl of fifteen. "The river spirit."
He nodded. His throat hurt.
"That's really unfortunate. It kind of reminds me of Peter Pan. 'She tried, for his sake, not to have growing pains...' But a lot longer, of course."
"I don't know that story," he said.
"Wait a moment," she said, and got up to leave. She returned shortly with a book, which she gave him. "Go ahead and keep it."
He took it, and looked at the cover, which didn't tell him much. He was feeling numb, but... 'You believe?"
"My older sister's the attendant at the shrine," she shrugged. "Makes sense to me, so why should I question it?"
He bowed to her, and then, turning to face the marker, to her. Then he rose, and went to the door.
"Wait!" she called, and when he paused to look over his shoulder, asked, "Are you leaving now?"
"Yes."
"Alright." She got up, and came to him. Then she seemed to steel herself for a moment, and reached out, took his face gently, and kissed him.
When she released him and stepped back, he just watched her.
"I think," she said, "that Chihiro-sama would have wanted to do that."
"Thank you," he said, and left.
end
.:the seconds that I barely felt / were they so long for you:.