Next chappie everyone! Hopefully it's quicker coming up this time.

The glittering silver river wended and twisted its way through the land. Kohaku decided that the river had been appropriately named – if not a little unimaginative.

He could see the land changing. It was becoming steadily flatter and turning into a beige colour. The air around him felt different – stiff and drier.

Finally the Giniro River became a mere trickle in the wasteland, dried up from the constant sun. Then the dry, cracked surface rolled beneath him.

His keen eyesight finally spotted the Pillars, no more than a tiny speck on the horizon. He sped up and then landed a comfortable distance away from where the Great spirits resided. He changed back and walked the rest of the way.

Kohaku could never have guessed how huge the structure was. It looked rather small on Zeniba's map, but in reality, the sandstone columns towered into the sky, casting long shadows across the land. There was a vast sandstone platform on which the pillars were on, with a flight of uneven stairs leading up to it.

On the sandstone platform, strange patterns were engraved into the rock. Kohaku stopped on the edge of the platform, feeling the fey magic wash over him in like waves. He had never felt so much raw energy anywhere, and it gave him an uncomfortable, prickling sensation.

Then he heard a voice in the wind. "Come closer," it breathed.

Kohaku stood, uncertain of what the voice meant.

"Stand in the centre."

He obliged – though a little hesitantly. Seeing the centre marked out by a circle that had a comfortable standing space within, he guessed that he had to step inside the circle. As soon as he did, the wispy blue 'fire' – as he thought of it – flared up, but much higher than what he had seen on the map. It spread outwards from the engraved circle he was in, along the patterns and twisting up the tall columns, finally forming a canopy of incandescent blue. Kohaku was awestruck by the beauty of it.

Then the Great spirits emerged from their stone pillars. With one look at each of them, Kohaku knew who was who. According to the ancient lore, Kuuki Kami – the Air spirit – had long white hair that flowed out behind her on the wind; Mizu Kami with her curly cerulean hair and eyes that changed colour with her mood; Shi Kami, his aura as dark as his purpose; Inochi Kami with her stunning animalistic golden eyes providing sharp contrast with her emerald hair; and finally Chikiu Kami the Earth spirit, towering above them all.

They gathered around Kohaku, dwarfing him. Chikiu Kami studied him for a while, then asked in his deep voice, "Your name?"

"Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, Chikiu-sama," he said with utmost respect. Suddenly remembering, he bowed deeply.

Mizu Kami's eyes changed from iron grey to a deep sapphire blue in an instant and said, "A river spirit, with no home."

Kohaku averted his gaze from those captivating eyes before he replied, "Yes."

She continued, "You've come a long way, haven't you?"

"Yes," he repeated.

Chikiu Kami boomed, "Why did you come to seek us out?"

"I come to ask you a favour."

"Hmm," was all he said, and Kohaku took that to be a 'sure'. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the Air spirit roll her eyes in Chikiu Kami's direction.

"Do you know of the portal to the human world? The one you closed a few days ago?"

The Great spirits nodded.

He asked tentatively, "Well…do you suppose you could reopen it? For a short while, if it's not too much trouble?"

This time Inochi Kami asked, "Why should we open it again?"

Her sister Kuuki Kami added, "It's meant to be closed at all times anyway." She rambled on, "Though I can't see how in the world it could have opened. Completely an accident. Don't you think, dear?"

"Maybe."

They all turned as one to look at Shi Kami.

"What?" She said aside to the others, "Looks like he's decided to talk a bit more in front of visitors!"

"Could be the Trickster," was all he said.

"Tsukioukami?" she asked.

Shi Kami nodded in reply.

"Ha! Tanuki might have been a good teacher, but his apprentice was far more talented than he." She laughed then, a pretty musical sound. Then she conceded, "Yes, it was probably him. Remind me to pay him a visit sometime. Anyone coming?"

Then they all laughed long and loud at what seemed to be an ongoing joke.

During their digression, Kohaku investigated the blue 'flames' around him. He had cautiously pushed his hand into it and surprisingly found it completely devoid of heat.

Chikiu Kami noticed Kohaku outside the conversation, and in his deep rumbling voice, he said loudly, "Ahem." The other four spirits immediately snapped back to attention. He continued, "As a reminder, we were asking Kohaku about why he wanted the portal reopened."

All five spirits fixed him with penetrating gazes, and suddenly he became very self-conscious of himself. He paused to order his thoughts, then said, "Well, there's a human there – in the human world." Silently he cursed himself, realising how pathetic his starting sounded. He tried again, "I'd like her to come back to our world." Then remembering what Zeniba said, he added, "I like her."

Inwardly, he thought that sounded weak and shallow, but the Greater spirits seemed to sense a deeper meaning in his words.

Inochi Kami observed to the others, "He's not the first one to fall in love with a human." Then she said to Kohaku, "But hasn't your human's memory of the spirit world been erased?"

"Well yes, but if she could see me again, maybe she'll remember." It was more of a wishful statement than anything else.

They nodded, and Kuuki Kami said, "A moment, please." Then they all disappeared back into their respective pillars, but Kohaku knew they were not gone. He could feel the magic even more high-strung, and there was a disembodied, wordless whisper circling the place. He guessed that the spirits were having a private chat, so he sat down within the circle to wait.

Some time later, the spirits re-emerged, and Chikiu Kami began, "We will not open the portal again."

Kohaku lowered his eyes, sad and angry at the same time of the outcome.

But Kuuki Kami butted in and said despairingly, "Brother, why must you begin so pessimistically?" She turned to Kohaku. "It's true that we aren't opening the portal again, only because Tsukioukami would probably use that in some way to his advantage."

Kohaku gave her a questioning look but didn't press it.

"It's not because of you that we don't want to open the portal. So we've decided to be very kind," her eyes flashed with genuine pleasure and she glanced around at her brothers and sisters, "and we'll help you in another way."

She motioned to Shi Kami, and he came before Kohaku. He looked up at the spirit of death, slightly fearful and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Just relax," was Shi Kami's only reply. He raised his hands to Kohaku's temples and slowly closed his eyes.

This chapter was originally longer, but I wanted to save the second part of it for the next chapter. That next chapter is the last chapter for the set-up for my story. That's when we get into the REAL stuff. That is, more characters, more Kamaji and Rin, and Chihiro. STICK AROUND!

Well? What do you think? I want to know what you think Shi Kami is going to do! And are the Japanese names all right? And who's Tsukioukami?

REVIEW! Constructive criticism welcome! Flames also (though I'm not going to like it very much). I don't care if your review is really short!

Those who review make me very happy!

Reposted 17/01/06 for…reasons.