E3: Spirit Woes Pt. 2

Anna woke up the next morning to peace and quiet. She got ample amounts of sleep and was able to keep others from seeing her until she was all dolled up to do her duties in the village. While she felt nice with a full night's rest, something was still off. She wasn't being bugged at all, and her house didn't smell like barley. A certain crop-lover was missing, and it was driving her crazy.

She wasn't too crazy about waiting for her to come back. After seeing her missing in her home, she decided to wait until Mizuki came back, sad and with that orb still stuck to her. Probably corrupted, but it would be nice to see her knocked down a peg.

At least that's what she told herself. The layer of vindication and spite wore down as the sun went away then back. Eventually, she was just worried, feeling a hole left in her day without Mizuki coming to bug her about how ripe each apple is turning out… "Maybe I should arrange a search party," she said, straightening out her hair.

While Anna started gathering people around to find her, Mizuki had woken up in the stone yard. She bowed to the statue she sat in front of, heading inside to get that broom. The spirit told her that today would be the hardest, as they will have to refurbish the land before her training could officially begin. It started with enduring the terrible smells to clean out the dung, getting rid of anything and everything that smelled, followed by a quick sprint to a nearby river. "Nice, now throughout that comforter!" She said, Mizuki rushing back with her nose pinched. The more she moved around, the more intense the stench got, as she was digging more and more from behind rubble. After two grueling hours, she had cleared the bedroom, tossing everything into a growing pile to the side of the yokai's house.

She did the same for the garden, then the kitchen, then the rest of the rooms. Only one short break was allowed by the yokai, which was spent in the dim light of the basement. Eventually, the home went from absolute terrible, to only being terrible and empty (Progress!). Mizuki fell onto the stone once the last debris was added to the pile, completely spent. Her dress had armpit stains from the labor, and her brow dripped sweat, even in the autumn chill. The wind blew over her body, summoned by the yokai to help cool her hard worker. "Wonderful!" The Yokai said. "It's only midday, and we have already made so much progress."

"I-" Mizuki's stomach rumbled before she could respond. "Tired…"

"Didn't you eat before we arrived here?"

"I haven't eaten since two days ago...wait I haven't eaten in two days?" Mizuki said astonished. She had been so distracted by the yokai and the cleaning that she hadn't put anything in her stomach. She sat up, her stomach rumbling becoming unbearable to ignore. "I-I need to go back home…."

"But what about your training?"

"I can't train if I'm dying from hunger…" She hunched over from another rumble before starting to make her way away from the yokai's home.

"Stop it, you don't know the way back! You will be lost! We can just as easily catch fish at the river, if you are this starved." Mizuki stopped and leaned against a nearby tree, feeling her footing being lost the longer she walked. "I can't….it's too far..."

"Then I'll get you there. This might tingle…" The spirit said as it took over her body again. Mizuki collapsed onto the ground while she took a backseat, her eyes rolling back to let golden ones take her place. The limp body roused itself up again, and started running over to the river. 'This felt slower than before,' the yokai spirit thought as she shot down the hill. She didn't stop when she arrived at the river, diving with momentum into the moving water. She reemerged with a live fish in her mouth, spitting it out on the ground before diving back in for more….

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Anna waited patiently in her home, tapping her lap while others passed outside. The search party she sent hasn't come back, and it was eating away at her core. She had already turned Mizuki's home upside down, and had searched crops next. Those were the only two places she knew she would go, but not a hair was out of sight around the farm. She couldn't be that scared of a burn, right?

Her tapping got more anxious as she peeked out of the window once more. The sun was beginning its descent down all to fast for her. It felt like it was noon, but there it was, starting to dip it's bottom below the treeline in the distance. None of the people around resembled the bright and blunt lass that would annoy Anna at the window or door each morning. "Oh Mizuki, this is getting ridiculous…"

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The missing girl woke up on the cold flooring of the kitchen, light shining through the numerous holes in the ceiling and walls. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, swearing that she had just passed out on the forest ground just a few hours ago…

The cramps came back to bite, keeping her on the ground as she clutched her stomach. For once though, a delicious smell pierced through the pain, waffling up through her nose. She searched around the room for it, spying the center of the kitchen lit with dim embers. The pot had been snapped off its roof, but it sat at the heat, cooking away whatever was inside.

The cramps lessened in intensity, replaced by a yearning for the smell. She stumbled upward and went to the pot, lifting the lid to peak at what was inside. It was hard to see, but she could make out the outline of a fish, cooking away against the metal. "You're finally awake," the yokai said. "I keep forgetting how tiresome a human vessel can get…"

"Y-you caught fish?" Mizuki said. "But home…"

"No. There is no need to go home Mizuki!" The spirit sternly told her. "It is imperative that you do not, and if you won't understand, I can always keep this body, forever."

"You, you can't do that…" Mizuki's hand suddenly came up towards her, pressing her lips closed. She frantically tried to remove her hand, but her fingers were tight like glue. "I can do what I wish, dear. You, however, can't even pry your own hand open."

"Mmmm!" Mizuki struggled more. She fought against the grip, but whatever strength the spirit had taken for her hand couldn't be replicated with another. She tossed and turned on her feet, putting her hand down into her elbow to try to push the arm away. Not even the last ditch effort could work the fingers of her lips; only cause her pain when her lips were pulled with them. "Mmmm…." she whined, falling to her knees as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I didn't wish to punish you either, but I can't let this happen again…not in this moment." She could feel the disappointment coming off the spirit, leaking into her own emotions as well. "You are destined Mizuki, don't you see? You must be prepared, trained, but retreating to your lands is not part of this training." Her hand's grip softened, letting her finally pull them off her mouth. Red spot were left by her fingers, circling around her mouth and stinging away. "Yes, spirit…" Mizuki said sadly. She took the fish out, making sure to scrape an edge off by a stick, so she could pick it up without burning her hand. She carried the hot finish out to the rock garden to eat, watching the sun and nature pass around her. Her hunger got sated, but now, she was missing the presence of another person…

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Mizuki woke up early that morning, using her clothes to sleep on the stone. Another reason to love fall, she guessed. It wasn't too cold to sleep naked in the wilderness. She could hear the snoozing of the spirit in her head while she dressed herself. She went to the side of the yard, deciding that it was finally time to figure out what to do with the pile of rubble. Mysteriously though, it was gone. It didn't register at her first, thinking she had somehow misplaced the mess somewhere else. She went to another part of the yard, but didn't see anything there either. It took another trip back before she had realized what happened, looking around the minka for anyone that could have passed through here.

"Spirit," she whispered, carefully peaking into the rooms. "Spirit!"

It was no use. For once, she as in sole possession, while soft breathing sounded from her ear canals. They weren't dropped back into the rooms either, or spread about down the hill. It was just gone!

Not that it was a bad thing. Unable to find a reason to the disappearance, she went back to the first location. Fully awake now, she went into the kitchen, picking up the pot to take with her too the river. As she had literally no idea how to fix up a house, it was time to do the next best thing; wash the statues. With a potful of water and trees full of leaves to use as crude sponges, she started wiping the moss and other stains off of one of the statue. It was tiring to be able to cover so little at a time, but she made her way up around the first symbol. "There," she said, dropping the leave and moving back to admire her work in the rising sun. Compared to the other, time-tested stone, the washed statue had a fresh look that was worthy of being in the light of Amaterasu. Without warning, the statue flashed golden, it's flash washing over the nearby stone and leaving it clean and gleaming. Mizuki jumped back out of it, narrowing avoiding circle of gold, tripping over her pot of water and falling onto the ground.

"Oh my…." She looked at the circle of pure grey-blue stone, perfectly surrounding the clean statue. It stuck out like a sore thumb against the still dirty ground, but…

Mizuki looked at the pot of water and the fallen leaf, an idea coming to mind. She moved onto another next statue. She anxiously waited for the next statue to glow while wiping the bird poop and moss off, jumping away at random moments when she thought it will shoot out the golden circle. Her timing wasn't good enough, as at a whip at the top, the circle came out. She was standing on her tippy-toes when it happened, leaving her vulnerable as the golden wiped up her body like a light gleam over wax. It lasted only an instant, but left a hazy feeling over her skin. She didn't just feel cleaned, she felt refreshed and reset. It made her laugh by chance; she covered her mouth, listening to the quiet snooze to check if the spirit had been stirred.

Assured she wasn't, she moved on to the other statues in the garden. The home may still be in shambles, and the garden was still a mess of rocks, but the yard was going to look like an entire crew came to do a professional shine. Plus, it made her giddy when she got cleaned, over and over.

She heard a yawn while polishing the dragon statues in front of the door. "Time to wake up little Mizuki," the spirit said. "Oh, Mizuki, you are…."

"I slept a bit early spirit," she said. "I was homesick, but I thought about it, and I think you were right. I still miss home, but once I become a yokai, I can help it so much!"

"Mizuki...you…" her eyes switched to gold for the moment, as the spirit wanted a look around. She turned a few turns, looking at all the symbols. They looked just as nice as they did when they were first made. "Do you like it?" Mizuki said once she was given control back. "I think the yokai magic cleaned the floor along with it."

"Do the dragons," the spirit said urgently. "Hurry! We are so close!"

"O-okay!" Mizuki wiped off the last bit of grime on the dragon, and quickly leaf-polished off the last one. She stood back as they started pulsing. "The statues didn't do that spirit…"

"Yes! I knew you were the right choice! I would pat you but…" Mizuki patted herself for the spirit, while her eyes were glued onto the glow. It washed over the house repeatedly, slowly enveloping the entire area in waves of golden semicircles. It was mesmerizing, but quickly got too bright for her to bear. Mizuki put her hand in front of eyes, waiting to the glare came down to see what had happened.

Her home had completely restored itself once the gold had faded away, with everything intact and full of blooming color. Shocked, she went to the backyard to check on the rock garden, seeing a reclining chair, wind chimes, a rake nicely leaned against the wall, and the rocks raked into a nice soothing circle.

"What happened?" Mizuki said, about to step on the garden when the spirit stopped her. "Wait! Let us go in through the front. The restoration only happens once, after all."

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"So I brought back the power of the home?" Mizuki asked as she walked through the clean halls. "In simple term's yes. I found it a pain to cover the cleansing of all the land, so I parted with some of my energy and infused it in the stone itself. When my power started waning, it must have faded enough to get trapped under a layer of dirt itself." While the spirit explained it, Mizuki did a double check of the kitchen. The pot was back to being hung from the ceiling, with the fire under it alive and well. A variety of foods were spread around the edge, with enough stockpiled to last maybe a year. "Oh my!"

"The fishing was just a temporary issue, if you were curious. But I must know, how did you know that cleaning the statues will bring back the temple?"

"The statues just looked dirty, and when I saw the circles…."

"Oh yes, they are quite perfect aren't they?" She cut off. "Yes, yes, yes, with this, we can finally begin your training!"

"I'm going to become a yokai now?"

"No. You're body is still too mortal. But, we can start off small."