Arms of the Kami

Exorcism

I don't own Spirited Away.

A few days after 'Sweat.' There won't be much romance in this string, this is the serious side of life at Kohakugawa Jinja.

Chihiro had just arrived at the rather shabby apartment building. It was no where near as nice as the one she used to live in. The dingy brown paint peeled, siding didn't look quite right, and the whole building had a dilapidated and neglected feel to it. It hadn't even been built by the same company, but a construction company of lesser repute. Still, it had been built where the river had once played in his sparkling hues, just like all the rest of the newer buildings.

There was something else about the building that set her on edge though. A dark and sinister presence lurked within, hiding and waiting for the dark to approach. Tendrils of the burdensome energy snaked towards her, searching to quench the light that burned inside of her, just like it had all of the others who lived in this particular complex.

Closing somber grey eyes that recalled the shade of the wildest thunderstorm, the young priestess drew a deep breath to return her stillness. There was nothing for her to fear, she was under the protection of a powerful kami, and her working partner was with her as well. The weight of two hands fell on her shoulder, only the touch was only that of one, and Chihiro slowly opened her eyes in her meditative state to turn her gaze upon the young priest.

The violet eyes regarded her carefully, and just behind them she could sense the presence of a pair of green eyes. His thick black hair looked like reined in midnight in its dragon tail, yet at the same time she could see the ghost of her kami's hair flowing free around him. Likewise, behind Chihiro's storming eyes, Kumiro could see the green eyes of Nigihayami Kohakunushi. He saw both her own chestnut hair upswept in her customary bindings and his lord's nighttime river running free behind her back. Normal people would only see the young priest and priestess themselves. However, their kami was currently possessing the pair with a mitama, or a small portion of himself.

"Any impressions Kumiro?"

"Its stronger than anything that you and I have dealt with so far, but not so strong as to call on your grandfather or the other pair for assistance."

"Let's go then."

They had been called here by one of the families living in the complex, the youngest child having fallen severely ill. The poor thing could not even get out of the bed by herself, and the rest of the building was suffering various stages of the same mysterious malaise. Kumiro led the way, his haori a blazing white in the sun while his hakama were a deep river-blue, shifting gently around him as he walked, contrasted greatly with Chihiro's own red ones worn specifically for this special ceremony. Kumiro carried a staff that he had been presented with, while Chihiro carried the catalpa bow and wore a quiver of hamaya A shapely and strong pale hand held the door for his partner to enter first after a quick scan.

Silently, the pair walked side by side down the hall, listening to the normal everyday noises of various homes surrounding them, as well as listening for any sounds that should not be present. The being possessing the building was an unknown to them, and there was no telling what it would do with their approach. A restless hiss sounded low in their interior ears, but it was the voice of their kami, tense and expectant as he stood guard over his shrine-keepers in this newly changed territory. Beneath their feet, the pair could feel the steady throb of the river's old course, the buried banks reacting to the power that had once been enfolding within them.

As they made their way through the dingy tunnel of dirtied white beneath the bare florescent bulbs that would glare come the fall of dark, they could sense the griminess growing ever more palpable. The various hidden kami of the people who lived in the building peeked through the doors, some curious, some grateful, and others resentfully.

"Some of the ancestors and family deities are being neglected it seems."

"Yes. The apartment in question is at the end of the hall on the top floor. From what I gather with the instruction that Ji-san left us, we will end up walking through the whole building to get to it, Kumiro."

"Maybe that is a good thing. We will have a better idea of the area that we are dealing with, instead of just mopping up a spot on a muddied floor."

They drew near to a stair at the end of the hall, and Kumiro went up first. If there were anything malicious in the stairwell, he would then bear the brunt of any attack. It was just as well. His main gift was in purification and banishment, a gift from his ancestors who were hoshi and taijiya. Chihiro could perform those tasks as well with the help of their kami, but her gifts seemed to be an unconditional love for all things and the gift of channeling. This is why the pair worked together so well. Chihiro was the mouthpiece of their kami, and with his protection she could safely relay the complaints or wishes of the other spirits. He himself provided the use of his muscles for the river lord. Thankfully, there was nothing remarkable about the stairway, either physically or psychically.

The next floor was the same as the first visually, although the guardian spirits on this floor ranged invisibly before the entrances to the individual apartments as they nodded in recognition of the two shrine-dwellers. The air was thicker and heavier, but nothing was visually amiss.

"Chihiro, your hair is standing on end again."

"Look in the mirror, 'fraidy cat."

'Would you two stop that? It is annoying. Far better to be on guard than to be hurt.'

"Sorry Lord."

Simultaneously the two young adults had whispered their reply to their kami, and they could sense his understanding. After all, he had dealt with stress in much the same way once. However, there was no way that Kohakunushi ever intended either to find out what he had been like as a younger kami.

The two now had their focus in the proper place, which was the matter at hand. Or, at least for a little bit. Chihiro had kept her pace steady and drawn ahead of her accompanying priest, and through Kumiro's eyes he could easily see the sway of her hips beneath the red of her hakama that were to be worn with the possibility of the need of her services as medium.

'Stop looking or I'll make sure you never sire children of your own, Kumiro.'

Kumiro's nervous splutter caused Chihiro to pause and look behind her. The way her body curved as she looked over her shoulder was very appealing, but Kohakunushi would wait to admire his priestess' form until after she was asleep and she couldn't catch him. He wasn't always controlled by her hormones, thankfully.

'Chihiro, stay either beside or behind Kumiro please.'

Kumiro opened the door to the next stairwell, ducking through quickly. Instead of focusing the thought solely at the miko, their kami had sent it to both of them, a gentle reminder of who was supposed to be protecting whom. Male was active, female passive unless otherwise necessary. Kumiro managed to find humor in it though. Their kami was so protective and possessive of Chihiro, it was a good thing that Kohakunushi had never bodily accompanied her to the University.

"Clear. Come on Chihiro."

The pair of humans ascended the stairs, not even glancing out the windows that provided natural light during the daytime. Their focus was above, were the dark presence could be said to be palpable. Neither would dread walking into whatever fray their duties lead them to though. After all, this was a job that somebody had to do. Kumiro opened the door onto the third and final floor, glaring down the hall way fiercely.

No kami were standing guard outside the doors to the apartments on this floor. They were present, but seemed to be in hiding, just within the gateways to their respective realms of apartments. To their supernaturally boosted eyes by favor of their kami, they could see a dark cloud at the very end of the hall, extending out from the last apartment in the line.

"That's it."

Kumiro merely nodded tersely at Chihiro's equally terse statement, and both could feel the invisible coils of their dragon protector tighten about them. Their footfall echoes dully in the hallway, the entire floor silent save for that hideous din. Either no families were home on this floor, or they were all currently sick in bed. The same dirty white hall as the last two floors was broken here by curiously shaped water stains that looked like screaming women moaning in unbearable torture.

Standing before the door, the priest and priestess locked eyes for a moment, each seeking to read the other's state of readiness, both knowing that their kami was quite ready. Kumiro opened the door at went in, Chihiro trailing behind and shutting the door. Kumiro did a scan of the apartment.

"Windows."

Chihiro went about, opening every window as wide as it could possibly go. They would be chasing the being out if it was merely confused, possibly exterminating it if intentionally malicious, and most definitely getting all of the stagnant energy moving again. The fresh air in the room was very welcome, and already energy that had been stuck in various corners began to flow again.

"Building on a river is definitely not good for the energy flow."

Kumiro and Kohakunushi snorted at Chihiro's dry observation. It was strange for Chihiro to be able to hear them both at the same time, one by ear and the other by telepathy.

"Well, its definitely not in this room. Let's check the next one."

The duo left the living room, following the push of energy into a bedroom. A gaping darkness awaited them behind the door, visible to earthly as well as spiritual eyes. Kumiro had stepped in, searching for anything in the room.

"It's so dark, I can't see."

Reaching a hand out to one side of the door way, Chihiro flipped in the light switch.

"Funny."

Kumiro was glaring at her now, and through his eyes she could see that Kohakunushi was as well. Deciding not to stick her tongue out at Kumiro, since Kohakunushi was also partially in the same body at this time, she opted for the safer version.

"We already know that whatever it is has to be in this room. I would like to see if there is anything it can throw at me. Then we can find out what it wants."

Well, the woman did have a good point. Kumiro realized he didn't want anything chucked at him either, he had enough to deal with when Kohaku would stomp him with the statue at the Shrine. Now that the light was on, there wasn't really anything amiss visually with the room, if you discounted a bit of gloom. There was, however, a small figurine shoved in a corner on a shelf in a rather inauspicious location. Also in the room, nearly unconscious on the bed, was a lovely young mother cradling her equally beautiful young child. Dark and weary eyes opened at the voices.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Arigato."

"Not to worry miss, well take care of everything."

'Kumiro, she's married. Don't get your hopes up.'

'Drat!'

While Kumiro began checking over the mother and child, Chihiro walked about the room tossing salt and chanting low to purify the area and invoke her kami's protection for the area, as well as all of the other kami in the building and of the ground itself. The culprit could be any disgruntled spirit, and so with their presence not only would the ritual go properly, they would be able to find out what grievance had been committed.

Her rounds completed, she turned the light back off and sat in the middle of the room, the dark swallowing everything once more. There was no need to loose any arrows for this ritual, but by twanging a monotonous one-noted melody on her bow, she could induce the spirits to draw closer, perhaps to speak. The rough lap of her guardian kami's scales from his unseen coils lured her steadily into a trance state. Chihiro's breath slowed and her body grew both heavy and light. Her focus, had there been anything in the dark to see, blurred and her eyes blanked before turning a mysterious river-green.

Kumiro had been chanting as well, extolling whatever malignant spirit that was attacking the complex and particularly this family to make itself known and state its desires. He had seen the change in eye color, his vision sharpened by the power of their shared kami, and knew that his lord was in possession of the miko's body before allowing the spirit to speak for the present mother to hear. The color washed back to Chihiro's but the voice that issued from her throat was not her own, frightfully deep and male as the spirit roared in his fury.

"I am most displeased."

"And why would that be, exalted one?"

"I have watched over this family for generations, travelling with them wherever they had gone. Every generation, I was held in a position of esteem and granted an auspicious position in the household. Now, I am relegated to a corner in an inauspicious location, my symbol of favor deemed little more than a curio."

"What are you called, Exalted One?"

"I am Nushi-no-watarimono-o-kami."

"What can be done to regain your favor Nushi-no-watarimono-o-kami?"

"I wish my kamidana to be moved to a more auspicious location. The mother will begin spiritual training to purify herself and to be worthy. She will dump 10 buckets of cold water on each shoulder three times a day. No longer will she sleep with her husband, though they may lie beside each other at night. I will have offerings of rice and sake every day, and these things shall be done without fail. Only then will I cease my attacks and restore my protections."

The woman on the bed began to shake, laying her little girl carefully down once more. She peered through the dark at the shadow of the possessed priestess in fear.

"Why me?"

"These things you will find out when the time is right, woman! Follow my edicts!"

Kumiro began to chant to placate the angered guardian spirit. He was confident that Chihiro would not be harmed, but the woman who had been selected as the servant of Nushi-no-watarimo had no training, and could be harmed if the spirit jumped bodies in his anger. The woman tearfully agreed, seeking only to keep her family safe, trembling with fear at what could happen if she refused such a powerful spirit.

After a time, the spirit left the body of the miko, and Kohakunushi loosened his tight spiritual grip on the woman's body. He was a lucky kami in that the family he had chosen had treated him well. He could only imagine how betrayed the other spirit had to have felt, since this was as bad as when Akio had helped fill in the river, if not worse. There was something more to it though. The woman was very lovely, and even though she had lain with a man her soul was curiously untainted. The respite that her soul could provide would be difficult for any wanderer to ignore.

In the dark, Kumiro performed the necessary purifications over the mother, child, and Chihiro. He was truly grateful that it was such an easy problem to solve. If the woman needed help with her training, they were nearby to offer what assistance that they could.Sixty buckets of cold water a day though, what could the guardian of wanderers want her so badly for? The woman had only married into the family. It was not his place to ask though, he was already doing his job. Just because the kami rarely revealed themselves in the Shrines anymore did not mean that they did not seek out special humans to perform their tasks.

With the ceremony concluded and the proper ofuda placed while the woman moved the kamidana and figure, Kumiro escorted a still dazed Chihiro back to the Shrine through the snow. Their kami had withdrawn his possessive grip, allowing the humans to breath as humans once more instead of as his channels. Chihiro had been rather sad and introspective lately, and it was beginning to worry him. She had lightened up for a while since the purification ceremony that she had attended with BlowingWind, but as time passed on whatever she had seen was beginning to nibble at her.

"Are you okay, Chi?"

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

His friend heaved a sigh and looked at him, then to the river, and back again. Whatever it was, it seemed that she wasn't ready for Haku to know about yet.

"You know that ritual that BlowingWind and I did?"

"The one where the two of you were trying to purge the piercing alarm of your biological clocks so that you could concentrate on work?"

Chihiro spared him a dry look.

"Were we that transparent?"

"I don't think the dragons, 'cept Ten, really noticed. Ten would tease the two of you about it anyway, even if the two of you didn't feel attracted to them."

"Who says I'm attracted to Haku?"

Kumiro stopped and mimed Chihiro gazing longingly at the river, faking a heartbreaking sigh. Chihiro whopped him with a snow ball in the head as her retaliation.

"Fine. So he's cute. Anyway, the last thing that was said to us by the ancestral spirits that had come was confusing to us. Maybe you can make something of it."

"I can try."

"Energy flows both ways on any thread, and even the profane is sacred if viewed while looking for Truth."

Kumiro calmly bent down and scooped up a bit of snow, keeping his staff tucked in his elbow while he packed it into a round ball.

"What if that was a cryptic way of saying that your feelings are actually returned, and you ought to just go for it? You know how spirits like riddles."

Laughing, Chihiro ducked her partner's snowball.

"So, you want me to make advances on Haku also? Ryu and Ten already threatened to lock us in a closet the next time he comes to the Shrine bodily."

"Then I'll just have to help."

"Do and you'll never father kids."

"That's funny, that's just what he says. Procreation isn't a sin Chihiro. Sure it can get dirty, but in itself, it's not bad. It's when people don't see how sacred it is that it becomes dirty. It's like a fusion of souls for a short time."

"I think you need to drop your comparative religion class."

"Do I? Or do I hit a raw nerve?"

Kumiro found himself pushed into the snow and buried.

'She's going to be in for a shock if one of these days she wakes up pregnant. Kohakunushi already has a mitama sitting in there nearly every night to watch her sleep for an hour.'

Hoshi - Buddhist monk(s)

Taijiya - Demon exterminator(s)

Catalpa bow - Sacred bow used by miko both to fire sacred arrows and to summon kami with the twang of the bow. The one stringed lute used at many shrines may be a descendant.

Catalpa - It's a type of tree, like the English bow is often of oak or yew.

Hamaya - Sacred evil destroying arrows. These are shot by miko at the beginning of some ceremonies, as well as kept in homes to ward off evil.

Arigato - Thank you.

Watarimono - Wanderer