Arms of the Kami no Kohakugawa

Losing a soul?

I don't own Spirited Away. I also don't own Inuyasha. The plot is mine though, as well as my almost confiscated soda.

The resident Nisou had drifted to bed already by the time that Kumiro had collected the beads of his ancestor and traipsed back into the Shrine. For the duration of his winter break, he was spending nights in spare living quarters here. He didn't have to attend class, especially since he was only taking one class for sheer pleasure at this time. He also did not have to stay at the Shrine since he had his own apartment still. However, with his trusty tape recorder and a very loud Chihiro at night, how could he resist? One of these days, they would convince Chihiro that she did talk in her sleep.

Now if he could only figure out why Kohaku had it so easy with the ladies.

"Kumiro! Don't bring in any more snow. I just mopped up after Chi drug herself into her room, snow mantle and all."

Focusing on the insides of the building, his eyes rested on the shapely and curvaceous form of the resident Native American Shaman. Her brown hair fell somewhere between chin and shoulder like a spritely waterfall, and the milky skin and shining turquoise eyes made her look more Irish than the Apache that was her father. Then again, the woman's story was that her mother was from Ireland, so it only stood to reason. Her shining orbs of wildest sky were currently sparkling with an odd mix of amusement and indignation.

"What do you want me to do? Strip down to my loincloth?"

"We all performed misogi yesterday, remember? It's not like we haven't seen you and your loincloth before."

"I don't want to see it again. It's bad enough when I'm trying to concentrate on purification of all the crud we pick up in the line of duty."

A nicely proportioned and rather typical Asian male had interrupted the household discussion between the two keepers. His chocolate orbs sparked with amusement at his friend's predicament, short dark hair poking away from his head for that wild and wooly just towel dried look. Already in a pair of his infamous pajamas, Ryu was waiting patiently on the couch for his nightly head bop when BlowingWind read what was on it this time. Kumiro did not understand why dragons liked it when a woman was hard to get, but then again he also didn't understand why he himself did either.

"I should certainly hope not Ryu! I know that I am a very masculine and attractive male, but I would much rather find a slender and petite feminine flower than a scaly dragon who loves to be hit around."

"It was a mistake!"

"You bet it was a mistake."

The men shared a quiet laugh as they remembered the accident in question. BlowingWind shook her head and rolled her eyes while she passed over to her favorite black beanbag.

The group of five shrine keepers had gone to the waterfall upriver to purify themselves. Yes, it was the middle of winter, with snow and freezing cold. However, it was the best time to perform such a ritual to remove impurities and to build up spiritual strength. As the icy water poured down over one's head in the midst of the chanting, one could easily feel interior gates unlock. The men had been in their ritual undergarment, stoically ignoring the cold. Likewise, the women had been in their virginal white under-kimono, ignoring both the cold and the wind spirit who had been trying to mess with them.

While Koji had been taking his turn beneath the pounding fall of Kohakunushi's steely fingers, Ryu had reached out for a loving and reassuring caress of her backside. As luck would have it, he lost his balance and instead somehow managed to grab Kumiro's loincloth as he fell in his desperate attempt to keep his feet. The funny thing was that Kumiro had been on the other side of BlowingWind. Thankfully, BlowingWind herself had been watching Koji to make sure that he did not lose consciousness and get swept beneath the ice downriver, so she didn't see the embarrassed man's Tama.

It was pretty funny though, even if Chihiro had seen more than she had ever wanted to when she turned to see what the commotion was. Everyone knew that Kumiro was not the one she saw in her head though. Trust her to turn to look for the rustle in the bushes and see the incident out of the corner of her eye. When it was her turn, the water had literally stopped for a moment, so greatly had the kami been shocked by the first thought that she sought to rid herself of. When she returned after what had to have been the longest misogi in the history of the Kohakugawa, their Nisou had relayed his orders that both Kumiro and Ryu enter the water together. The women and one confused old man watched as the water increased it's pressure.

Neither of the women told their Daitoku what the river spirit was so fiercely protesting. The guys had gotten beaten up enough.

"That was a pretty immature thing to do though Ryu. Chihiro's never going to tell him what she wants if things go at this rate. I swear she's married to her work or something."

Kumiro took off the snow covered haori, hanging it on a peg for the purpose near the door and slipping off his winter boots. Once that task was finished, and he had wrung out the hems of his hakama, he plopped on the other side of Ryu's couch and caused a near panicking dragon to haul his feet back.

"Wrong, Wind. If she were married to her work, we wouldn't have a pining away Nisou on our hands."

The human woman and her volcano kami snorted at Kumiro's play on words. It was true though. The more that she missed her kami and his physical presence, the more spiritual and devout she became. She was becoming less rooted in the physical world and more wraith-like every day. Chihiro didn't walk so much anymore as eerily float with a saddened splendor that only the love-lorn can achieve. It made her a very powerful channel, true, but it was also very dangerous to her body.

"Should we tell him?"

Wind had voiced her question from her black cushy stronghold. One arm was held over her eyes in mental exhaustion as she reclined while the other dangled limply behind her. The pure white of her Victorian styled nightgown made her resemble an innocent maiden in some cheesy vampire novel, but both the dragon and human knew better. Even in her worn and frayed state, she would make any vampire plea for a quick and merciful end if one were so idiotic as to cross her.

"No. Haku is already stretching himself too thin. He's been busy paying off debts and favors that I don't even want to think about what he did to get stuck in those positions. Not to mention the fact that he has spirits challenging his right to his own river, and questioning his choices. He is already working hard to be able to come for the summer matsuri for Chi, but even that is pushing it. He may end up possessing Kumiro and the statue again like last year. He already sends a large portion of himself to guard her most vulnerable dreams."

Kumiro shuddered at Ryu's points. He still didn't have the full story of what had happened while the river spirit had been in his unwilling exile, and from Ryu's expressions when the two talked without the women hearing he didn't think he wanted to. He wasn't too keen on the idea of being nearly fully possessed either, since not only could his emotions and internal reactions be known by the spirit, but then the young priest could also hear the kami's own. So he would get yelled at for looking while Haku himself would have trouble concentrating on not looking. Yeah, that was fair.

As he remembered what he had just done outside, his hand strayed back to the beads he wore around his neck, unconsciously pulling them out.

"There was a yukionna outside."

"A snow woman?"

"Yup. Tried to ice Chi. Stopped her though."

The other pair in the room eyed the beads curiously.

"Are those the beads your ancestor wore?"

"Yes. A blessing bestowed on the family by Buddah as my ancestor and the group he traveled with had become so dependent on the rip. The power of the Kazanaa was transferred into the beads by His grace after Naraku's curse was lifted from our line. The only actual mark of the curse that is left is the scar in my hand, a judicious reminder to not judge by appearances. These were what I used to vanquish and release the lost soul."

"So why have you stopped actively looking for a girlfriend?"

"And offend Kohaku's honor by getting laid first? I like my equipment in working order and have no need for a very jealous and deprived kami to strike me temporarily impotent, which is what will happen if I even get close to scoring with any woman before he scores with Chihiro."

BlowingWind, having long ago removed her arm when the yukionna had been mentioned, was clearly shocked at Kumiro's rather frank utterance. Ryu merely sagely shook his head.

"You made a bet that you would get laid first, and pissed him off again, didn't you?"

"Yup. Hey, it's that time again. Shall we spy?"

BlowingWind quickly got off of her cushion.

"You two are incorrigible. One of these days, you're going to walk in on them just to embarrass the poor guy."

The males watched her storm away to her bedroom, praying that the slamming door would wake neither Koji nor Chihiro. Ryu nonchalantly scratched his head.

"Guess that means she's out tonight."

"Come on Einstein. Let's go make sure he keeps his three year vow. What an idiot."

"Me? Or Haku?"

"Who do you think, dragon? At least Wind isn't drifting around and burning our food when it's her turn to cook. If it's for Kohaku though . . ."

Kami - spirit, god or deity depending on translator and usage, but most correctly is spirit.

Tama - jewel. This time, a pun.

Nisou - Priestess, higher than miko.

Daitoku - Priest

Misogi - Ritual purification done at various times through the year. This is done with chanting and entrance into water. It takes place in the sea, river, lake, or under a waterfall and is said to remove impurities, as well as used in the past to gain spiritual power. This is more extreme than the previously mention cold water austerity of dumping buckets of cold water over oneself.

NitenGale - No problem, totally understand.

Neech - Kumiro both does and does not have a curse. As he experiences time, the curse has already been lifted. If he were to meet Kagome, she would experience him as having the curse (gauntlet and all) until such time as she and her group fulfill their destiny and defeat Naraku. He possesses Miroku's beads because the monk survived (by Naraku croaking). The entity that Miroku served (Buddah) saw that the group had become dependent on the void, and so the bead became the focal point for a new gift. Kumiro's curse however is that he, like his ancestor, has a dirty mind that often gets him in trouble. He'll eventually get lucky.