Disclaimer: I do not own or get money off any of this. There are several minor OCs that are mine alone, but aside from that and the plot (sort of) is owned by Mythology/Broccoli's interpretation of mythology.

Chapter 3:

Up high in the heavens above Mt. Fuji, the god of the moon, Tsukuyomi stroked his beloved rabbit, waiting patiently. His brother, Susanoo, left several moments ago, not telling him nor the other gods where he went.

Then, Tsukuyomi, also known as Tsukito by the family of Japanese gods looked up. He thought he heard something. Something not usual. Tsukito flinched as a light, almost blinding to him approached with a frantic step.

"Tsukuyomi!" the god, who sometimes was a goddess, was dressed rather beautifully with red and black robes, a crown of rays, and had long white-red hair. His beauty always had an air of fury, especially when it came to Tsukito for reasons not quite known to many of the gods. Tsukito stood prepared for whatever tongue lashing the god was about to give him. Amaterasu, also known to some as Akira, stared flames at the moon god's rather lifeless eyes.

"Where is Susanoo?" he said feeling that rather indescribable urge to slander Tsukito well in his chest. As usual the disinterested god had no clue. On Tsukito's part, Susanoo had always been relatively independent if not protective of others, so he didn't think much of it.

Akira, on the other hand, sensed something. Something…bad.

With a rush of wind the two gods turned to find the disturbance. Their short but muscular brother stumbled towards them, looking winded and was bleeding from the head. Susanoo's eyes were wide, exhausted, and almost to tears.

"Takeru!" Akira called out in worry as the young god fell to his knees from the damage he received. Both Tsukito and Akira rushed to his aid.

"Are you okay?" Tsukito asked trying to show his concern, but ultimately failed. Susanoo, aka Takeru, knew immediately that his beloved brother was truly worried.

"I'm fine," Takeru breathed waving his hand to shoo the two away from getting any closer. Regardless, Tsukito examined the bleeding as Takeru sat on a nearby stone, breathing in deeply. Akira asked, "What happened?"

"I-I…we couldn't hold them back. I fought as long as I could. Even Ryujin couldn't hold against it."

Akira's eyes traveled over Takeru's shaken form, thankful that he was at least safe. But something else was on his mind, "Has it been a year already?"

"What was that?" Takeru asked not quite hearing Akira's gasp. He gazed confused at his vibrant sun god brother as he abruptly a stood and turned to leave. "Where are you going?"

Not missing a stride in his perfect angry sashayed step, Amaterasu replied, concern hanging in his throat, "I'm going to have a chat with Ryujin."

Hikaru awoke quite suddenly, again awakened with a flash of silver. Whatever his incoherent dreams were, they always seemed to end with silver. What that silver was he didn't know. He sat up, realizing that he was fully clothed. He looked out at the sea seeing a deep morning blue in the sky and water.

Panicked he scrambled out of bed rushing down the steps.

Mrs. Musashibo was in her nurse's scrubs, sipping coffee at the dining table when Hikaru scrambled down the stairs, whimpering, "I'm late…"

"Hikaru," she called. The young man stopped in his tracks before he reached the door. "It's okay, he's already gone."

Perplexed he stared at the woman, "H-he's not angry with me is he?"

Mrs. Musashibo withheld laughter and shook her head with a smile, "No, he's the one who suggested you sleep in. Come. Have breakfast with me."

Hikaru obeyed awkwardly, still confused. He set about fixing himself a bowl of rice and egg, pouring himself a large glass of milk. He sat down across from the woman and began eating. Mrs. Musashibo eyed him with a wry smile on her face. He caught her stare, wondering why she was looking at him that way.

"Oh! Sorry," he murmured taking off his hat, forgetting to take it off at the dinner table. Hikaru ate his meal, devouring it in only a few bites. Mrs. Musashibo withheld laughter seeing the young man practically eat his breakfast in one gulp.

A bus full of students passed by the road next to the house and for a moment Hikaru paused, staring after the school bus. This didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Musashibo. It was silly to think that a kid ached to go to school, but Hikaru seemed to be the exception. It was easy to see why. The town was full of either really young couples with young children or older folks whose children already moved on with their lives. A school would give Hikaru the peers he possibly craved. Mrs. Musashibo had spent a while debating on weather or not he should go to school. But his actual age and knowledge level was unclear.

The doctors even brought in an anthropologist expert to see him to determine his actual age via dental exams and other features. He came back inconclusive but estimated that Hikaru was in his late teens. If that was true he didn't have that long before he would be off either getting on the job market or going to college. At this point, unless he did plenty of independent studying there was no way he would pass the college entrance exams. Mr. Musashibo may have been correct in introducing him to the trade market early rather than subjecting him to school, which would've been a lost cause. From what her husband told her, Hikaru was a good enough assistant and works hard. You can't ask for a better trait than that.

"Ken did want you to start on the Tanaka's fence while he was away. Can you do that?"

He nodded, with a little bit of hesitation. He did other projects on his own before, mostly fixing plumbing, but oddly enough he found safety in being with Mr. Musashibo and his workers when they were in a neighborhood of lonely housewives with the wandering eye.

The Tanakas were a nice married couple with a young son who asked way too many questions. But their neighbors, the Hinoshizas, were a little bit of a bother for Hikaru. Mr. Hinoshiza was a travelling salesman who sold software to firms all across the country. Since the software was widely used he got himself a nice living and moved to a large house on the sea with his rather beautiful wife.

Hikaru was old enough and knew himself enough to be attracted to good-looking girls and women. Still, Mrs. Hinoshiza never ceased to make him nervous. She had a 'reputation.' For the most part, Mrs. Hinoshiza was very much a modern Japanese woman in her prime and she had not trouble expressing that fact. But it caused concern for the more conservative community she lived in.

In most instances, she was considered a temptress and Hikaru had no argument against that statement. He was used to getting stares and giggles from ladies, but Mrs. Hinoshiza took it to a different level, making obscene innuendos that were just subtle enough that Hikaru couldn't outright call her on it.

When their water heater went out, which to be fair was a real complaint, he knocked on the door and Mrs. Hinoshiza answered it in nothing but a rather shear robe, playing coy, pretending that she didn't realize that Hikaru wouldn't be able to arrive that quickly. But that was just one incident and for a while Hikaru just thought it was a matter of circumstance until things like that would happen every time he was there alone.

"Are you okay with that?" she asked. Hikaru nodded and served himself another helping of rice and eggs.

"I'll go over there this afternoon."

"Good," she replied, standing up and taking her dishes to the sink and washing them quickly. After she was finished she grabbed her purse and turned to the young man.

"I'm going to work. When you're done could you please wash your dishes?" she asked, her eyes flitting down to his half-eaten seconds. "Try not to eat too much okay? I don't want to have to go to the grocers until the weekend."

At around noon, Hikaru packed the paint and supplies into the truck and drove it down the road to the Tanakas house. Technically, Hikaru was driving illegally, but if there was something that Mr. Musashibo allowed was him driving on his own. None of the locals minded, as Hikaru was good driver and it was necessary for his job.

He arrived at the Tanaka's house and rang the doorbell. He waited a little bit, but jumped when a purple-coated rider on a speed bike zoom passed on the road, creating a loud roar. Hikaru's eyes narrowed on the rider as he sped away, thinking it was strange. With the exception of summer breaks, the only hooliganism around town was created by rowdy sailors. Not hip speedsters. Perhaps the rider was visiting a friend or just enjoying the sea.

His train of thought was interrupted when the door opened.

"Oh! Hikaru. Thank you for coming," Mrs. Tanaka greeted. Hikaru shifted and bowed awkwardly in respect.

"Good afternoon. Sorry to have called on short notice," he said.

"Oh not a problem, the quicker it gets done the better," she replied. Mrs. Tanaka was a happy woman around thirty years of age. She was largely a housewife and her husband, Mr. Tanaka, was an accountant. The couple had a young five-year-old son, and Mrs. Tanaka was six months pregnant with their second child.

"I thought you and Ken were supposed to be out on that carrier."

Hikaru gave a small smile, "Yes, but I slept in and he asked me to start with the staining job while he was away."

Mrs. Tanaka laughed, "I suppose your misfortune is my fortune. Come."

She stepped outside to open the fence to their back yard.

"Is Seiji around?" he asked her to make polite conversation.

"He's taking a nap," she replied with a smile. "So he probably won't pester you for a while."

Hikaru was both relieved and a little disappointed. He liked little Seiji Tanaka even if he could only take him in small doses. Although the boy asked him endless questions about his features and where he came from, Seiji never really made him feel like a freak or an anomaly. Mrs. Tanaka gestured all along the fence, "Basically we need all of it painted. The sea air just ruined the regular home improvement paint."

"Yeah, you need a sealant too," Hikaru replied, crossing his arms. He spoke as if Mrs. Tanaka had any clue as to what he was saying. He stroked his whiskers and tried to make things clearer, "The moisture from the sea peels regular paint on outdoor objects. But a sealant prevents that."

Obviously Mrs. Tanaka wasn't interested in the science of paints and sealants. She just patted Hikaru's back with a small laugh, "I'll let you get at it then."

"Alright, thanks."

Hikaru set about painting the fence and chipping away dead flakes of the old paint job. He's done it times and times before and the Tanaka's fence wasn't large. It would take probably two days to finish completely. When he got about a fourth of the fence finished, he stood up, dropping the roller in the pan to massage his arms and wrists. Doing the same thing over and over for a long time caused a bit of strain.

As he stood he heard a familiar, patronizing voice call from the other side.

"Oh, Hikaru!"

He slowly closed his eyes in exasperation, but glanced over at the Hinoshiza yard, finding Mrs. Hinoshiza in a revealing tank top and shorts wearing sunglasses and holding a mixed alcoholic drink in her hand. Beside her was another woman of the same age, likely from the city. The two sauntered over and Hikaru swallowed feeling uncomfortable already, especially when he felt the two other women eyeing him like he eyes steak.

"Hikaru, I see you are painting the Tanaka's fence," Mrs. Hinoshiza said drawing closer to the fence. The other woman was biting her lip in amusement as she looked upon him, no doubt stricken with his blond whiskers, red, sunburned cheeks and blue eyes.

"Yes, ma'am. The old paint was chipping off."

Mrs. Hinoshiza turned to her friend, "This is the boy I was talking to you about."

"Indeeeeed."

Hikaru blanched a little.

"Hikaru, this is my dear friend Ms. Itazaki. Come to visit me from her extravagant life in the city."

"Pleasure," Hikaru said shortly, giving the other woman a curt nod. His gut was getting a little unsettled as he felt both ladies practically licking their chops.

Ms. Itazaki peered over her sunglasses, "Not so extravagant. I don't see nice strong young men working and breaking a sweat in the city. It is refreshing seeing a young man work to earn an actual keep."

Mrs. Hinoshiza playfully hit her friend, clicking her tongue, "She's just teasing Hikaru. She wouldn't leave the city for anything."

He averted his eyes, brow furrowing, cheeks flushing even more, subconsciously wiping his hands on his paint-stained cargo pants. He wished the women would leave him alone. He had work to do and he wouldn't want to insult Mrs. Tanaka by cavorting with her neighbors when he was on the job. That aside, he felt on display. As if he were some exotic animal and Mrs. Hinoshiza was showing him off to her guest. In some ways, Hikaru would have preferred that Mrs. Hinoshiza and Ms. Itazaki would just blatantly cat-call at him from their porch, as young college girls did on break after having a few. Then he could play it off. But, Mrs. Hinoshiza's intentions were still a mystery to him. Perhaps she just liked teasing him.

"So, Hikaru, do you have a girlfriend?" Ms. Itazaki asked.

It was a frequent question he got, and he answer was always the same, "No, ma'am."

One of the women clucked their tongue, as if the mere idea were some cosmic shame.

"I always find that hard to believe."

"A nice, strapping, virile young man like you should have all sorts of girls clamoring for your attention."

It's not like I don't. He realized his paint roller was getting dry and the paint in the pan was hardening. He really needed to start painting again, but it was just rude to flat ignore them. The sound of the back porch door sliding interrupted their "conversation." A small boy stepped outside and he closed the sliding door behind him.

"Hi, Hikaru!" Seiji Tanaka greeted.

"Good afternoon, Seiji." Hikaru was relieved. Seiji wouldn't drive the women away, but it was obvious that he was a good enough distraction that allowed Hikaru to continue working. As he bent down to resume painting the base of the fence, while Seiji greeted his neighbor and her friend. The two older women gave their attention to the little precocious boy, who asked non-stop questions about the city.

Mrs. Hinoshiza and Ms. Itazaki found that their glasses of mixed drinks were empty, which meant time to refill. The two finally left them alone to head inside.

"See you around Seiji," Mrs. Hinoshiza said before winking at Hikaru, "You too Hikaru."

Seiji waited for his neighbor enter her house before he said plainly, "I got rid of them for you."

Hikaru did a double take, staring down at the boy. Seiji Tanaka must be perceptive enough to know that he wasn't comfortable around Mrs. Hinoshiza, and Hikaru didn't know how to respond to the fact that he was saved by a five-year-old.

Still, Hikaru laughed aloud, "Thank you for saving me."

The boy sat down in the grass and began picking at the blades, "What are you doing?"

"Painting your fence."

"Why?"

"Because the paint was chipping off."

"Wouldn't it chip off again?"

"Not this time. At least not for a while."

"Why?"

And so began another sea of questions followed by the simplest of answers. As long as Seiji didn't try to paint or ruin the current paint job, Hikaru was fine entertaining the kid with answers. It at least made time and painting seem faster, and before long he thought to pack it in for the day. As Hikaru walked onto the back porch to report to Mrs. Tanaka, Seiji still bombarded him with innocent questions.

Hikaru didn't go home right away after his work with the Tanakas. He assumed Mrs. Musashibo was home, but rather than eating there, he decided to stop at a diner for dinner. After calling her of course. He wasn't sure why, but he thought, in his head, that the less he was heard or seen at that house the better it was for the Musashibos. But that apparently didn't stop Mrs. Musashibo from sounding moderately disappointed or worried when he called.

He sat alone in his booth at Hamata's, a local diner that seemed to specialize in a strange mixture Japanese classics and Western barbeque. The diner used to be a usual old rice and noodle shop, but after the owner Mr. Hamata spent a year in the United States, he decided to bring up a Western flair, after sampling food from Kansas City. The theme was rather bluesy with music by Nina Simone, B.B King, Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn and other classic blues artists playing over the speakers.

Mr. Musashibo and his workers usually ate here for quick lunch breaks, and most of the clientele were sailors. The half Western flair even brought in some U.S officers every now and again. Of course they had their "Early Bird Special" for the older folks.

Now, as Hikaru sat, watching the sky darken to night, the place was fairly empty, except for two fishermen eating together in the far back corner and one tall gentleman at the counter.

He was rather odd. He wore dark pants and suit coat with a blue baseball hat. A rather mismatched fashion sense, Hikaru thought, even though he had no room to speak for himself. Regardless, Hikaru just spent the evening to himself, elbows propped up at the table rubbing his hands together and looking at the sky, almost as if he were expecting something to fall out. In a way, something did. He saw three shooting stars dart across the sky. It was a rather astonishing event, but the nights in the town, furthest away from the shipyard and port, were the clearest, they skies sparkling with stars.

"Here you go, Hikaru," Mrs. Hamata placed a plate of pork buns and a glass of water on the table in front of him.

He snapped out of his daze and pulled himself away to allow her to rest the plate in front of him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said with a smile. "And we are playing your song for you. You hear?"

He tuned his ear to hear "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone playing astonishingly softly on the speakers of the diner.

"My song?" he asked.

"Mr. Musashibo said you bought an album of her music last month. You seem to be the only youngster to get a kick out of my husband's fascination with American blues."

That was true. He did buy Pastel Blues with money he got from work. In some ways, "Sinnerman" seemed to be and odd expression of him. Desperation of someone who was lost and didn't know where to turn and even God had scorned him.

Leaving him lost to the world like he was.

He didn't know Mr. Musashibo knew about the CD. He mostly kept it in his room to listen on the stereo with headphones or took it alone with him when going on jobs by himself. He himself didn't think he had it around that much. It was just a CD.

He thanked Mrs. Hamata for the food and quietly went about eating his dinner, not paying much attention to "his" song. Nor did he notice the tall man glance over his shoulder, giving a good look with his golden eyes.

Amidst from the drone of the Hamatas talking together, and the fishermen quietly eating their meal and the blues music playing, Hikaru glanced up when the phone rang. Mr. Hamata stopped his rice rolling to answer. His brow furrowed as he glanced suspiciously at the tall poorly dressed mysterious man. He held out the receiver.

"Hey you," he called and the man's head lifted up. "Phone call for you."

The man silently stood from his stool and grabbed the receiver going to the very end of the counter, out of the way of prying ears.

Hikaru didn't want to be meddling, but the phone call seemed suspect. He couldn't see the man's face as most of it was hidden by the hat and for a moment, Hikaru could've sworn he saw the man look directly at him. The phone call was short apparently, as before long he handed the receiver to Mr. Hamata. The man adjusted his coat and pulled the bill of his cap down as he left the diner.

Hikaru tried to think nothing of it, but he at least felt relieved that the Hamatas held the same concern he did.

The very next day, Hikaru did the same thing, finishing up the Tanaka's fence, unmolested, no pun intended, by Mrs. Hinoshiza and Seiji was over at a friend's house. As such he got finished sooner. Instead of eating dinner at the diner like he did yesterday he drove home.

As he pulled up the driveway, he spotted a black car already parked in front of the house. It was unmarked, but by the plates it looked to be a government car. That wasn't a good sign. Hikaru stepped out of the truck and spotted two men speaking to Mrs. Musashibo at the door. Both were in uniforms.

The man speaking to her was around her age and stocky with black hair, wearing a coast guard's uniform. Hikaru recognized him as Captain Ryoshiki, the head of the local coast guard. He was a friend of the Musashibos, being a childhood friend of both Mr. and Mrs. Musashibo years and years back. The other man was obviously foreign, with graying hair, wearing a U.S Navy Admiral's uniform. Hikaru approached them and to his deep, deep, sadness, he saw Mrs. Musashibo's eyes widen. Next, her chin started quivering clearly shocked and upset.

It didn't take long for Hikaru to figure out what these two officials told her, and it made his heart pound and his blood run cold.

Hikaru raced to her as she collapsed in grief. He didn't second-guess his actions, not even in front of men from the coast guard and military. He embraced her, kneeling down with her as she clutched at his shirt weeping uncontrollably into his chest. There was no use in resisting the instinct to wrap his arms around her to keep her tight and comforted as he tried his best to be of any sort of comfort or relief.

It didn't matter if the officers stared on, watching with dread as the woman broke down. All that matters was that her husband, Ken Musashibo, and his crew had gone missing at sea.

And most if not all evidence showed that he lied eternally under those waves.

A/N: "Sinnerman" is on the late Nina Simone's Pastel Blues album. It is very much a soul song that is haunting and empowering to say the least. While 'Hikaru' isn't really a prime "sinner" depending on how you look at him, I thought the song was a good reflection of what he may have been going through.