Things That Change by blue

The Ghosts of Tokyo

Chapter 2 ( The Ghosts of Tokyo )

Disclaimer: You should know this by now.

 

Time: This story is occurring in the winter of 2041.

 

Warnings: The character Kumada Kiyoko’s name have been changed to Kumada Nami (on advice from my editor that people might get her and Kiyoshi – her boyfriend – confused.)  If there were confusion, I apologize, but now it should be very clear who’s who.  The character names do have meaning to them and are genuinely Japanese (except Lesta Gin, but that’s because she’s part Russian as well).

 

Summary: Kumada Akina has just lost her Father, Kumada Yuuichiro, to disease and age.  However, on his death bed he requested to not be buried with his prestigious ancestors but to have his ashes placed at a Tokyo shrine.  From there on out, a trip to Tokyo for the family from Kobe will force Akina to face a few flaws in her character and discover a city of ghosts.  There, through the memory of others, Akina will learn the bonds of friendship and family, one that she had forsaken long ago in her silent anger at a father she loved and hated above all others.

 

Things That Change

by Blue Jeans

"I know you trust me.  But would

you trust my words, if I dashed all

of your beliefs and spoke truth to

you?  Would you trust them really,

if I colored the black and white

pictures of your memories with my own?"

 

Chapter 2

The Ghosts of Tokyo

 

            The blue skies were clear, sharp with the cool breeze of winter.  Bared branches of cherry trees shivered under the finicky wind.  Nami, Akina, and even Hiroshi openly admired the scene before them, though Akina did a bit more gawking than everyone else.  Whatever image Akina had of the shrine when Gin had told her of its existence, the pristine steps and secluded atmosphere was not what she had expected, especially not in what was once the most modernized metropolis of Japan.  "Mm," Hiroshi murmured appreciatively, "I would love to see the beauty of this place in the spring.  It must be a sight worthy of even the eyes of the Gods!"  Akina was inclined to agree seeing how many of the trees lined the walk with stooped, aged branches.

            "Tokyo's very well known for its sakura*, too," Nami remarked, looking dreamily about.  "It is such a shame we came at such a late time in the year."

            Kumada Iku smiled a little to herself.  "It is a very beautiful place in May," she agreed.

            All three of her children looked to her in surprise.  "You've really been here before, Mother?"  Hiroshi inquired.  Kumada Iku was not one who liked to travel; she was born in Kobe and as far as her children knew, she would most likely die in Kobe.  Only since her announcement about going to Tokyo had they ever been informed of her being near the city, but mostly, they had thought she was talking about a school trip that didn't amount to much of anything.

            Nodding, Iku glanced up at the one-hundred steps to the red-torii that marked the entrance of the shrine.  "Yes," she echoed her earlier reply.  "A long time ago, it seems, and yet, this place has yet to show its time in this world."

            Iku shifted the urn in her hand but shot Hiroshi a polite smile when he tried to help.  "No, no, son.  This journey is one that your mother must make on her own."

            Hiroshi reluctantly backed away and the four of them climbed slowly up the steep steps.  Iku led the way as her children followed, and Nami cast a weary eye at the black birds perched upon the torii overhead.  "Such ominous birds to watch over such a holy place," she whispered to Hiroshi who nodded in agreement.

            "Phobos San, Deimos San, is your mistress in today?"  Iku asked the crows who plucked at their feathers and shook their plumage.  Her children glanced at her surprised.

            "I didn't know Mother spoke to crows," Hiroshi whispered to Akina.

            "Eh?"  Akina muttered, still in shock at her mother's odd behavior.  Maybe the stress of losing Father has finally gotten to Mother, all three of Iku's children thought in unison.

            "Huh?"  A cheerful and surprised voice suddenly rang over the grounds, startling the crows to agitated cawing as they flew high overhead.  "We have visitors!"  A pretty blonde in the robes of a miko* came rushing up to them.  "Good evening everyone!  Welcome to Hikawa Jinja, my name is Aino Minako and I'm the caretaker of this place!"

            Kumada Iku bowed low to the blonde before rising.  "My name is Kumada Iku, Aino Minako San.  I have brought my children to visit your shrine this day.  Is the head miko, Hino Rei San, of this shrine in today?"  Iku asked worriedly.  "I have an important request I hope she will grant to me."

            Aino Minako's bright smile faded a little at the mention of the head miko, her expression more closed off and sadder than before.  "No, the head miko has been gone for quite some time.  I'm sorry."  But the wayward silence was broken quickly as the blonde gained back her original cheer.  "But, if there's anything I can do for you or your family, I'm more than willing to help.  I also have charms to sell if you or any of the others will like to buy Hikawa Jinja's special charms!  How about some tea?  It's getting awfully cold lately and your accent seems not of any Tokyo district that I know of.  Are you far from home and just visiting?  Oh, please come in from the cold!  Come on, come on!"

            Hiroshi put a hand over his forehead and Akina put hers to her ears.  Nami braved the whole speech with a solemn expression while Iku smiled at the youthful energy of their hostess, an energy Iku had long lost herself.  "We would be honored," Iku answered.

            Nodding cheerfully, the blonde quickly hurried ahead of them, not at all noticing the weary expressions on her guests' faces.  "Please excuse the mess," Aino Minako called over her shoulder as she scrambled over the steps.  "I wasn't expecting visitors.  But it is such terrible weather, all cold and dreary.  I can't just leave guests at the doorstep.  If Rei Chan ever found out she'd have my head..." their hostess’ voice faded as she went deeper into the house.  At the last minute, the blonde stuck her head out again, with an expectant expression on her face.  "Don't be shy and don't hesitate.  The more you stay out, the colder you'll get and the more likely you'll all catch colds!  Tokyo weather's horrible during winter!  Though it’s not as bad as England, if you know what I mean.  You know what they say, don't you?  The colder the weather is, the more likely to freeze your feet off!"  Then Aino Minako was back inside again, her voice echoing off the walls even though her words stopped making sense.

            Hesitatingly, the four dazedly followed their hostess into the receiving room of the shrine's living quarters.  Though, none of them were entirely sure what the blonde meant during her earlier chatter.  "Amazing!" Akina leaned over the railings and touched the wooden poles.  "I feel like I've stepped back in time here!"  All the others were inclined to agree, though Iku wore the nostalgic expression of someone reliving the past.

            "Welcome to Hikawa Jinja, everyone," Aino Minako greeted them again once they had settled in the reception room.  The blonde came out from a deeper part of the house with a tray of piping hot tea.  "I'm sorry, but I really wasn't expecting guests today.  The place has been awfully quiet for quite some time."  Minako smiled at them all.  "Are you here on official business?  Anything I can help you with?" she inquired.  "Charms?" the blonde suggested hopefully again.

            "No," Nami answered for her mother, who was preoccupied with looking at the room.  "We apologize for our intrusion," she continued, looking down at her cup worriedly, "but our business here is one of great importance to us, and it is not something we can ask, easily."

            Minako smiled, her blue eyes opened and unclouded with any worry.  "Ah, there's no need to feel intrusive.  Rei Chan left me to take care of the shrine and all of the functions needed to keep it running in her absence.  If I don't take care of the people who come here, she'd surely hear of it and--" Minako waved a worried hand over her face "--she can be very scary when she doesn't get what she wants!"

            Nami still hesitated, so Akina took it upon herself to speak for her family.  "My… father died in early summer, but we all had been very busy at the time to fulfill his last request.  Hence, when we all had vacation and time off, we decided to travel here together and see that his last wish was fulfilled."

            Minako looked surprised at this.  "Your father?  Who is he, Kumada San?"

            "Kumada Yuuichiro," Hiroshi helpfully answered.  Aino Minako blinked her large blue eyes at them in confusion before recognition came over her face and she clasped her slender fingers over her mouth in surprise.  However, the gasp escaped her lips quite loudly nonetheless.

            "Kumada… Yuuichiro Kun?" Aino Minako whispered in shock.

            Akina immediately came to the defensive.  "Did you know him?"  Akina demanded with some vehemence.

            Aino Minako set down her trembling hands, too shocked to be offended by Akina's tone.  "Know him?  A little," she admitted, "but Rei Chan was the one who knew him best of all of us."  The blonde had a far away look in her eyes as she glanced out the opened shoji door.  "After all, he lived here with her and her grandfather for quite some time."

            "Rei?" Akina blinked in surprise.  "Hino Rei San?"  But Minako did not answer immediately.  "After all these years, there's no way she could have still known my father well, unless she was his..."  At this, Akina paled with anger and Minako paled with another emotion.

            "Oh, no, not like that!"  Minako waved her hands frantically, as if realizing an error in what she spoke about earlier.  A bright smile came over the blonde's face, though it wasn't hard to notice the perplexity that remained in her expressive, blue eyes.  "The Rei Chan of that time hated men, and relationships, too!"

            Akina was surprised by this answer.  "Eh?"  The dark-haired woman sputtered.  Hiroshi pinched Akina's leg beneath the table and gave her a warning look.  "Doesn't-- like-- men?"  Akina blinked again, and freaked a little with the implication.

            Aino Minako meanwhile sighed in exasperation.  "Pervert, don't say strange things like that.  I didn't mean it that way, either!"

            "Then what do you mean?"  Hiroshi asked over his sister's protests.

            Aino Minako looked distant again.  "Rei Chan doesn't really trust anyone, especially not men."  Then a nervous laughter came over their blonde hostess as she rubbed her head.  "You know her grand-- I mean her mother.  Daughter, mother, same name-- You know how it is, with them being all proud of their name and all that."

            "Why is that?"  Akina asked, more curious now than ever and not understanding what their hostess was talking about at all.  Aino Minako gave a questioning look at Akina, who sighed and elaborated a bit more.  "Why would Hino Rei San not trust men?"

            "That's for her to tell," Minako smiled mysteriously.  "It's her story after all.  I wouldn't be a very good friend if I told strangers her and her family’s secrets now, would I?  Especially not on the first meeting with people I don't know very well, even if you might be people she might be familiar with."

            It was then a draft wafted into the room.  Akina sneezed harshly.  "Oh, I hope I didn't catch a cold," Akina said as she sniffled a bit, feeling as if she had wasted time on this trip.

            Aino Minako wore a strange expression on her face.  "Oh, the ghost is out again."

            "G-ghost?" Nami perked up.  Nami was a superstitious woman, and the one thing Nami could not stand was the mention of ghosts.

            Aino Minako's eyes gained a certain amount of glee at the mention of ghosts, though.  "Yeah," the blonde agreed, missing the horrified look that came over Nami's pallid face.  "It's Matsuko Masakazu San's ghost!  He was always so worried about his granddaughter.  It's said that when he died, his ghost began roaming these halls, checking the rooms whenever it gets around dinner time.  Calling her, you know?"

            The chill of the room froze Akina in her seat.  "Rei Chan!"  Minako mimicked scarily.  Nami squealed like a young girl, jumping from her kneeling position.  Minako tried to hide her rude laughter from behind her hand, but to no avail.  "Grandfather Masakazu was a perverted old man when he was alive.  He hasn't changed much as a ghost."  Aino Minako waved her hand in attempt to settle her surprised guests, "He is harmless, as the most he does is lift girls' skirts when they visit the shrine with a little wind."

            Akina blinked in disbelief at her hostess.  "Was that supposed to be reassuring?"  Hiroshi whispered to Akina.

            "I think that was Aino Minako San's don't-worry speech," Akina sighed in exasperation.  "But you can't be serious, Aino Minako San," Akina said more loudly to gain the attention of their hostess.  "There's no such thing as ghosts!"

            Aino Minako chuckled slyly behind her hand a bit.  "There are," she insisted.  "Why else would I set an extra place for him?"  Only then did they notice the extra tea set on the table next to their blonde hostess.

            "If there really is a ghost," Hiroshi challenged, leaning over the table edge, "why did it linger?  I really don't buy the poor-lonely-granddaughter story, nor the hentai*-old-man story."

            Minako blinked at him.  "No one asked before you," she said in surprise.

            "No answer to this prank, then?"  Hiroshi asked.

            Aino Minako smiled a bit sadly at him.  "No."  Sky blue eyes closed in thought as the blonde sipped her tea.  "If only it were a prank, Kumada Hiroshi San."

            "Are you saying that there is a ghost?"  Nami asked with a slight quiver in her usually composed voice.

            Minako looked down at her tea.  "There are many reasons why Rei Chan left this shrine; I wouldn't blame her if this was one of them.  Grandfather Masakazu and Rei Chan were very close before his death.  But, his ghost is not the same person as the man," Minako explained.

            "What is this story?"  Iku asked after having stayed silent a long time.

            The blonde hostess blinked at her.  "You truly wish to know?"  At Iku's nod, Minako sighed.  "I can't tell you the whole story, only what I know.  There are secrets not my own to tell."

            "That's my secret, but it's not one that I share alone.  So, I can't tell."  Akina remembered Mars Reiko saying the very same to her before.  It compelled Akina to be curious over the few similarities she had already discovered these two women she had met in the last months seemed to share.  Somehow, these women seemed so very close to each other, even if they might not know the other’s existence.  Still, Akina wondered what Mars Reiko’s relationship was with one like Aino Minako, if they had one that is.  After all, the blonde woman was now running the shrine that once belonged to someone that looked just like Mars Reiko, and they shared such similar wording and speech.  Akina never had a close girlfriend except for Gin, and there were never really secrets they shared nor did they ever spend so much time together that they would start to sound like each other.  Gin was not the type to have too many secrets to begin with, and she was not one who felt comfortable sharing hers with anyone.  Akina wondered what had made it so that someone who seemed as closed off as Hino Rei did in her pictures -- and Mars Reiko's familiar chilly expressions -- would share a secret with someone like Aino Minako.  The two women seemed to be so different that on the compatibility scale, Akina just couldn't seem to see a firm friendship to be in their favor.  Aino Minako and Hino Rei were as different as day was to night; at least, it seemed so to Akina.

            "If you won't mind, I would love to hear it," Iku encouraged, breaking through Akina’s thoughs.

            Aino Minako poured herself a bit more tea, slowly taking a sip.  "My story began on a day like today," their hostess smiled to herself.  "A long time ago, it seems."  Blonde lashes fluttered and blue eyes suddenly looked as if it were seeing a different time.  "I was a child then," Aino Minako explained.  "We were all children then, even Rei Chan, we heard of a... story.  A story about a heroine with a crystal heart..."

 

-           -           -           -           -

 

            It was a time of many battles.  Monsters roamed the streets and terrorized the citizens living in what is now the new Tokyo.  Back then, a group of mysterious heroines protected these streets at night, fighting and shielding the people from these monsters.  And then, one day, something came from the darkness that was stronger than anything the heroines ever fought.  There were many skirmishes, but finally, a showdown brought a great light to wash over Tokyo and from that day on, things were never the same.

            People lived and died.  There were crime and disease.  But the monsters were suddenly gone, and thus, so were the mysterious soldiers that once protected the city from them.  Yet the peace seemed deceiving, and something was off from before.  It was said that a woman with a crystal heart blossomed into being the night of the unknown light, and then disappeared that same night after the light had washed over the lands.  What happened after was a mystery but the heroines never showed up again, nor did the monsters.

            But then, in the city, when people died, their spirits did not and would not leave the earth.  Instead, all over Tokyo, ghosts began to appear.  None of the ghosts were malevolent.  It seemed, though, that a different kind of immortality was granted to the men and women or Tokyo and those that died there.  Perhaps it was not an eternity that anyone could have envisioned for themselves, but it was one of the many things that began to surface in that precarious peace set in the city of Tokyo.  It was one of the many things to support the theory that something was “off” in the once magnificent metropolis.

            So, one day, when Matsuko Masakazu got sick, his granddaughter became especially worried.  "Grandfather's been getting sick a lot lately," Hino Rei sighed as she explained the situation to her friends.  "I don't know what we're going to do about it.  There's not much money left over after the bills are paid for the shrine, and he refuses to go see a doctor, that stubborn man."

            Ami tapped her keys a bit before looking out to the window again, while Minako worriedly leaned over the table.  "Are you going to be okay taking care of your grandfather by yourself, Rei Chan?" the blonde demanded.

            Rei smiled at Minako’s show of concern, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.  "I'll need help, but I think with Yuuichiro here, we can handle it together."

            Minako grinned, "Yuuichiro Kun and you have been getting on better together, Rei Chan?"  Minako giggled behind her hand a bit.  At least someone was trying to move on from what happened, Minako thought.  Still, everyone was still recovering and trying to move on in their own way.  Makoto has yet to be able to get out of the hospital bed since the incident though, and the brunette’s spirits had been awfully down lately.  That worried Minako, but all she could do these days was try her best to be there for everyone.

            "Are you coming with us to visit Mako Chan tomorrow, Ami Chan?"  Minako asked.

            The blue-haired genius winced slightly at the mention.  "Y-yes," Ami answered timidly.  Ever since the accident, Mizuno Ami had started to become more and more shy and detached, reverting back to the girl she once was.  The way their progress as friends was deteriorating was frustrating and frightening to Minako.

            Minako wanted to say, "Usagi Chan wouldn't want to see us this way.  We have to stick together.  We have to, if we are to truly win this."  The battles they had fought, it wasn't just that anymore.  If they weren't able to stick together during Usagi's absence, Minako knew that they wouldn't last very long against any enemy if an attack occurred.  Battles were not the only things they were fighting against now; ideals were not the only things they were fighting for either, not anymore.  Things had all of a sudden gotten more and more complicated.

            "I've got selected for the transfer to Germany again," Ami admitted, looking down at her hands.  "I've been seriously considering rejecting the offer.  But since that day--" Ami sighed deeply "--there are so many bad memories now.  Perhaps it would be better if I go."

            "Do you still blame yourself for all of this, Ami Chan?"  Rei asked worriedly.  "It's not really anything we did and there was nothing more that we could have done.  Even I have to admit that though it would be easier to say that had we been faster, stronger, and better, Usagi might not have had to have done the things that she did—" Rei turned away, feeling moisture in her eyes "--it couldn't be helped.  This is not what she or Mamoru Kun would have wanted from us."

            "It hurts!" Ami grasped the front of her shirt and pounded on the table with her free hand.  "We're soldiers and we must sacrifice ourselves for everyone, but why did it have to be the two of them?  Why did it have to be Artemis and Luna?  Our job was to protect her, our friends, this city… that was our vow, it was the reason why I fought and never gave up, even when I wanted to.  But we've failed in the end.  I've failed!"  Ami began to cry, something she had began to do a bit more frequently than was probably considered healthy.  Yet, it was the first time since the incident that Ami had been so honest and open with them.  "We could keep smiling, but I feel it in my heart—that pain that wouldn't go away.  I can't do it, Rei Chan, Mina Chan!  I can't stand to be here with so many painful memories, when everyday, all I can think about is how we failed Usagi Chan, how I can't help Mako Chan—how I'm glad that I didn't get punished like Mako Chan did."  The last part of Ami's words came in a whisper, as if she was afraid to say it out loud as the blue-haired woman clutched to her hair so tightly that her friends were worried she was going to pull out the strands by the roots.

            "It wasn't punishment," Rei answered solemnly, trying to settle everyone’s rattled nerves after such a speech.  "It was an accident.  Like everything else."

            "How would you know?"  Ami demanded.  "You're blind.  Isn't that your punishment?"

            Rei winced as she glanced down at her hands, at the cooling tea next to them.  "It can't be helped," Rei finally answered, clutching her fingers tightly in denial.

            Minako shook her head, her attitude surprisingly more serious than normal and far more calm.  But lately, Minako had been hit by the traumatizing changes pretty harshly, and keeping that happy mask was becoming more difficult.  "I refuse to let Artemis' and Luna's sacrifice be wasted on self-pity," she declared, fisting her hands in determination, "I refuse to let Usagi's sacrifice and everyone who helped us thus far, those who have suffered for us, especially Mako Chan who is like the way she is now..." Minako looked fiercely into Ami's startled eyes.  "I'm your friend, still, Ami Chan.  If you must go to Germany, if that is your decision, then I can't stop you.  But as your leader, I am strongly against such a decision.  Ami Chan, even if you go, you can't run away from what has happened.  It would be better if we pick up the pieces and try to move on from it, even if the pieces cut us, even if it is more painful than anything else.  That is what we must do to go on living.  We have all learned this in our battles together, especially Usagi Chan.  If she were to see us now, she would tell us to keep smiling and continue on with the same hope and determination as before.  Usagi Chan… she wouldn't want to see us give up so easily."

            Ami's lips trembled, "How can you say it so easily?"  The blue-haired girl covered her eyes.  "There's no more Sailor Senshi, you know that.  It ended that night.  What pieces can we pick up when they are too small to grasp?  We can't return to the past, it's over.  Even the future-- No, even that is so unforgivable and uncertain a thing.  Lingering here, I will only shrink back to before, I have no choice.  To grow, I must move forward to where memories don't hurt as much and can't influence my actions as greatly as this place.  I want to go to a place where I won't worry everyday about seeing her in the streets or Mamoru San.  I don't know which is worse, seeing him or her, and I don't want this feeling as if I was dying all over again each time I walk down the street or pass the places we used to hang out.  I don’t want to live here remembering that look on Artemis’ face or the helplessness I feel when I see Luna.  I have so much fear in this city, too many things to feel guilty over and be afraid of.  Everything is different now."

            "Ami Chan!" Rei gasped out in surprise.  Minako just watched her long time friend and admired companion crumble under the tragedies laid before them.

            "I-I can't continue smiling.  I can feel a part of me has died."  Ami closed her eyes.  "I can't continue on as if nothing has happened.  I can't continue to smile knowing the sufferings of others and remain unable to do a thing about it.  I can't linger here much longer.  I must grow stronger as fast as I possibly can, and if I go to Germany, maybe I can learn to be that way.  Maybe, I’ll be able to do things smarter should such things happen again.  If I don't continue to grow, if this happens again, how will I be able to help anyone?  I can't handle failing again.  Right now, I can't even handle my own feelings!"

            "If you're not here, how would any of your newly acquired skills help us or anyone else for that matter?"  Rei demanded angrily.

            "It can't be helped," Ami said.  "I can't continue to be this weak.  I can only hope and trust that there'll be enough of a warning for me to come back and help out."

            Rei opened her mouth to retort, but Minako held up her hand to Rei as her usually cheerful blue eyes now settled intensely upon their friend.  "If that is what you wish, Ami Chan, we will try our best to support you," Minako replied gently.

            Ami swallowed harshly at those words.  "Please take care of Mako Chan, tell her—" Ami grasped for words, "—tell her I'm going to have to go find a cure for her, that's why I'm leaving.  Please don't discourage her from getting better because of me.  Everything I do, I'll do it to the best of my abilities.  Tell her not to give up and that I'm thinking of her and everyone, always."

            Minako knew Rei would want to call what Ami was doing, "giving up", but right now was not a time for the team to fracture more.  Feelings of betrayal must be set aside so that understanding and forgiveness could blossom.  The wounds they carried were still too deep and each must heal in her own way.  "If that is your decision, Ami Chan, I will try to the best of my abilities to support you in yours, even if we're an ocean apart."

            "Mina Chan," Ami whispered with guilt and gratitude.  For the first time in a long time, there was a smile on Ami's face, one filled with relief and sadness, but it also carried with it hope.  "Thank you."  Ami stood and bowed to Minako and then Rei, while the dark-haired miko studied Minako with scrutiny.  There was still a bit of a scowl over Rei's face, but the miko chose not to argue and curtly nodded to Ami goodbye when the other hesitantly inched towards the doors.

            After the blue-haired woman left, Minako banged her fist against the table harshly.  "Damn it," the blonde swore.  "I can't believe Ami Chan—"

            Rei sighed and drank her tea, trying very hard to relax her tense jaw.  "You were right, Mina Chan," the miko interrupted with a rueful smile. "We must all heal in our own way.  I couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed, though.  To say I saw this coming," Rei laughed a bit bitterly.  "I am blind now, Ami Chan's right.  From here on out, we have nothing to guide us anymore, only ourselves."

            Minako tiredly watched the cherry blossoms fall from the open shoji.  The scene was nostalgic and sad.  "How many mistakes and hurts will we add to the ones we already have?"  Minako questioned softly.

            Rei smiled at her friend.  "We must be strong, Mina Chan," the miko said, grasping her friend's hand in her own.  "For Mako Chan, for Ami Chan, for the Outers and the City, but mostly for each other."  Rei's dark eyes shimmered with tears, "For Usagi and Mamoru San, Luna and Artemis -- for them especially."

            Minako nodded slowly.  "Yes, for everyone."

            A sigh could be heard as both girls tensed.  "Yuuichiro?" Rei's face was menacing.  "Were you peeping in on us, you pervert?"  Without much prompting, scrambling sounds could be heard.  But Rei was on the tail of Yuuichiro before he could get much of a head start, yelling after the young man with great menace and many threats.

            Minako smiled to herself, glad to see her friend a bit livelier than she had been since the beginning of the incident.  Somewhere, the blonde heard coughing.  Surprised, but worried, Minako stuck her head out into the hallway to find Rei's grandfather leaning heavily against the shoji wall where he had stumbled over for support after exiting his own room a few doors down the hall.  "Oh!"  She rushed to the old man's side.  "You okay, Grandfather?"  Minako asked worriedly.  "Rei Chan wouldn't want you out of bed, you should know, Grandfather," she scolded the old man who was smiling at her from beneath his mustache.

            "But I'm glad," the old man said as he smiled up at Minako, "to see such a pretty girl finding me and worrying about me.  Anyway, I wanted to see the cherry blossoms bloom before they all fall."

            Minako sighed.  "Let's go back inside," she said to him.

            But Rei's grandfather shook his head, his smile never slipping.  "It's a special time, this time of the year.  There are memories in this place, you know?  Memories are such funny things, cherished and still so painful to recall."  Rei's grandfather sighed a bit heavily and Minako found that she could not recall a time where she had seen him this serious before.  It made Minako quite edgy, and uncertain as to how to deal with the situation.  "I can't go back to that room without watching and smelling the fresh air a bit more."  There was a very determined look the old man was sending Minako as he explained his reasoning.

            Sighing, Minako nodded and suggested she go get him a blanket.  The old man readily agreed, even suggestively winking at her and saying how they should share it.  If Minako wasn't so used to Rei's flirtatious grandfather, she might have been seriously apprehensive about going near the old man, but that was how Rei's grandfather was always like.  It was better to take what he said with humor than seriousness.  The sky was darkening significantly when Rei returned.

            "Grandfather, what are you doing out?"  Rei asked angrily when she spotted Minako and him sitting and watching the blossoms fall from the tree.

            "Ah, my ever stubborn granddaughter."  There was a perplexed look on Rei's grandfather's face, and in his voice as well.  But it was soon gone with a good whine.  "I've been stuck indoors all day, Rei Chan!  Now, that can be no healthier than—"

            "You can tell me all about it while you're on your way to bed," Rei answered smoothly but there was a twitch under one of her eyes that indicated the great agitation she was trying very hard to disguise.

            "But Rei Chan…" Grandfather clasped his hands together in a begging motion.  "Allow me this final wish as an old, dying man—"

            Rei's face turned immediately pale though her gaze was very serious and very angry.  "Grandfather!  Don't you dare to even joke about such things!"  Rei gripped his shoulders and nearly shook him silly.

            "My granddaughter sure can be scary looking."  Her grandfather shuddered under Rei’s glare, though part of his wobbling form was due to Rei’s earlier shakings.  The comment immediately changed Rei's worries once more to her earlier, frustrated emotions.  But her grandfather's face suddenly became very serious though.  "Did I ever tell you how much your grandmother loved cherry blossoms, the very blooms she was named after?"

            "Eh?"  Rei paused at this, surprised.  The subject came out of nowhere and surprised her so much that Rei nearly fell over with shock, but she ended up gaping at her grandfather in total speechlessness instead.

            "We picked this shrine for the trees, you know?  Your grandmother really loved the trees here.  She loved the torii, too, and this old house.  She even loved the one-hundred steps, even though she hated the climb."  He chuckled a bit to himself.  "Your mother used to complain that the steps deterred all her friends from coming over," he recalled, nodding to Rei who gingerly sat down next to him, a bit shell shocked.  Minako watched with increasing curiosity and surprise as well.  "Your grandmother and your mother used to fight all the time, all the way up to the time when your mother was a teenager.  Your grandmother used to be the only person that could light a fire in Yumiko Chan's life."  Rei blinked at her mother's given name, for she did not hear her grandfather talk about her mother much.  They were beautiful and cherished memories, but they were also painful.  They were the reminders of what was long lost and gone.  "Yumiko Chan had such a spark too.  No one really saw it much though.  Perhaps, your father did, but he could never bring it out as effectively as my Sakura Chan.  And what a fiery woman Sakura was, though her health could never quite match her spirit."

            "Grandfather," Rei said, looking at him worriedly, "why are you telling me this?"

            "It's time for you to know."  Grandfather smiled to her sadly.  "As a ghost, I will live in painful and beautiful memories.  I won't remember you very well, I don’t think.  If such circumstances were to occur how would I be able to tell you the beautiful things your mother and grandmother had accomplished in their lives?  How would you know the people they were and became before their time on earth was up?"  The hairs of Grandfather’s mustache stirred from his soft breaths.

            Rei looked truly afraid for a moment.  "Please don't talk about such things," she begged him.

            "You know," Minako gasped as well in surprise.

            Rei's grandfather chuckled.  "I'm old, not blind, child.  And even if I was blind, I still have ears.  People talk about these things, especially to priests, and especially if they're very old priests."  Matsuko Masakazu viewed the falling blossoms in the night with a serious expression.  Huddled as he was beneath his heavy blankets like a small child, he still carried a very grave air around him.  "We are priests, Rei Chan.  We deal with death everyday.  One day, very soon, it will be my time to go."  He ignored Rei's protests with a shake of his head and a hand rose to gently quiet her fears.  "When it is time, it is time.  You know that best of all, Rei Chan.  I have raised you to be strong enough to handle the truth.  It is up to you whether or not you will accept it willingly when it comes to you."
            Rei winced at this slightly, but her grandfather gently touched her hand with his.  "You're a lot like my Sakura, only you've got your Father's strength in body.  Your father and I didn't get along from the start, but he was not so bad a man.  He was a stubborn and determined man when it came to the things important to him, perhaps that is why he got so far with his goals, and won even Yumiko Chan's fickle heart.  Perhaps he was stronger than most even, but he wasn't strong enough to handle all the baggage that Yumiko Chan carried wherever she went."

            "Baggage?" Minako inquired.

            Rei's grandfather smiled a bit at this.  "Yes.  Even my daughter had baggage to carry with her, though mostly in secret when she could help it.  Yumiko Chan was not an easy child.  There were times she would be gentle and kind, and there were times she would be brash and cruel.  Your mother, she sometimes woke up in the morning and was a completely different person from the one who had gone to bed.  She was a difficult child, a fragile one, even if she didn't appear so to the outside world.  Sometimes, even Sakura could not stand to be too close to the burning path that our Yumiko Chan blazed through life."

            "Are you implying my mother was mentally ill?"  Rei asked, shocked.

            Her grandfather shook his head.  "We loved your mother dearly.  She was our only child.  But she was not an easy person, Rei Chan.  Your mother wasn't always like that, you know?  It's the price I had to pay for being young and inexperienced once.  Something had come to your mother and possessed her in her heart when she was very young.  She fought it well, but it wore down her spirit, and then it wore down her body.  There was nothing either Sakura or I could have done.  The spirit that gripped onto your mother was far too strong.  The pain and anguish she went through in her life was passed on in pieces to others, cutting those closest to her worst of all, and wounding those she came into contact with.  Your father was hurt badly by our Yumiko Chan.  Perhaps, he feared the same from his daughter."

            Rei was outraged at this.  "Feared me?  He abandoned me!  He abandoned Mother!  How can you say those things about such a cowardly and irresponsible man, Grandfather?"  Rei was increasingly incensed as she continued.

            "That makes him a terrible father, doesn’t it?"  Rei's grandfather bowed his head with a sad, low chuckle.  "We tried to warn him about our Yumiko Chan, and she resisted him as well as she could.  But your father was always so stubborn.  She really wore him down, and nearly broke him in two in the eight years they were married.  Now, he's just half of a man, clinging to his career because there's nothing left for him on the inside.  He must have been relieved a bit when our Yumiko Chan died, relieved and hurt and guilty.  To this day, I pity that man who came to my steps with you by his side.  I would not have let him keep you, Rei Chan, even if he had been willing.  He did you a kindness, for he would have been far more terrible a father if he had stayed."

            Rei clamped her lips together in a frowning scowl, but said nothing.  Ever since she was a child, Rei had adored her mother and associated her mother's death with her father's absence and his abandonment of her.  A few words could not undo over a decade of beliefs.

            No!  She refused to believe it!  Father was the villain in her memories, how can it be so different from the story her grandfather was telling her?  Why was Grandfather telling her this now, anyway?  What would it prove when her own father had abandoned her when once she had loved him so much?  How can she forgive such a man that had given up on both his wife and daughter?

            "When our Yumiko Chan had you, Rei Chan, it was as if the spirit that had gripped her since she was a child suddenly disappeared.  There had been an equally sudden calm in your parent’s marriage then, but your father was far too weary by then.  He had reached quite a breaking point by the time you were born.  When your mother changed so drastically, he was quite unsure what to do with himself."  Grandfather smiled sadly as a blossom was caught by the wind and blown from the branch.  "He feared you, feared you because he probably came to love you as all fathers love their daughters.  But he was afraid you had taken that thing that had gripped your mother in all the years they had married.  He was afraid of how much you would hurt him once you were able to do so."

            Rei was at a loss, not quite sure what to say.  Minako cut in worriedly, not sure if she belonged in such a private conversation, "Still, Rei Chan wouldn't hurt a soul!"

            Grandfather smiled.  "Your father lived with a woman he loved, feared, and hated with equal intensity for eight years.  I don't think he was quite in a logical frame of mind when Rei Chan was born."

            Minako thought on this.  "So, does that make him a victim?" she asked quietly.

            Rei rose abruptly.  "No!  These are all lies!"  She shook her head fiercely before glancing down at her grandfather. "You must go to bed, this is unhealthy," she commanded, but without ensuring that he did, Rei spun on her heels and nearly ran down the hall.

            "Rei Chan!"  he called after Rei worriedly, but he hadn't the strength to rise and chase after her.  "The truth is not a compassionless thing, or perhaps it is too terribly compassionate a thing to understand passed the results.  Truth seems so ignorant of the pain it causes in opening the eyes of those too used to living in the darkness, eyes that are unused to its blinding light."  Matsuko Masakazu sighed as he looked to the ground before him helplessly.  "But it is about time she learned of such things."  There was a determined look in Masakazu's eyes, even if it was tempered by sorrow.  Minako helped him to his room in reverent silence soon after, and bid him goodnight with worry for her friend written on the blonde woman’s face.

            "I'm glad," Masakazu told Minako before she left, "that my granddaughter had found such great friends to see her through the hard times in her life.  I'm glad."  That night, Matsuko Masakazu died in his sleep, leaving behind a grief stricken Hino Rei in his place as the caretaker of the shrine.  And ever since that time, his ghost had haunted the shrine.  Searching, always searching for something.  But to this day, no one knows what it is that he is looking for.

           

-           -           -           -           -

 

            "Are you saying there are ghosts everywhere in Tokyo?"  Nami asked with a suppressed shudder.

            Minako nodded eagerly.  "Saw quite a few myself.  But our Grandfather ghost sure remained a pervert, even if he's now a dead one."  Minako sighed with resigned exasperation.

            Akina blinked at their host in disbelief.  "You have to be joking," Akina grumbled.

            Minako blinked at them.  "You guys must be outsiders.  All of Tokyo knows this is a ghost town.  They're everywhere, you know?  They roam the city as if they're not dead yet, or do not know they're dead.  A lot of the population drop is because the descendants of these ghosts find it either too creepy or too painful to stay."

            "Is that why Hino San left?"  Nami asked.

            Minako looked down at her hands.  "It was one of her many reasons for leaving," the blonde answered without looking up and then took a sip of her cold tea.

            Iku looked very worried.  "We're sorry to have troubled you.  If you do not want to keep the remains of my husband here, I'll understand."

            Minako blinked at them before breaking into a cheerful grin.  "No, no!  I'm the one who's sorry!  I'm sure this is something Rei Chan would have wanted to attend to personally.  If you don't mind, I would love for you guys to come back tomorrow evening, and we'll do some arrangements then.  Tonight is not so good, I’m afraid.  I'm not at all prepared for such a request at this time and it’s already getting dark out."

            Iku nodded with a relieved smile.  "Thank you very much, Aino San," Iku bowed to her host.  It was a shallow bow since Iku was sitting down.  "I truly appreciate all that you done for us."

            Minako waved away the compliment.  "Don't worry about it.  As I said before, Rei Chan would kill me if I didn't take care of my duties."  And as the Kumada family was readying to leave, Minako suggested that they leave Yuuichiro's ashes at the shrine until the next day so they wouldn't have to continue to carry him back and forth again for the second time.  Iku hesitantly considered it, before reluctantly agreeing to let him go when her children pointed out to her the inconvenience of the trip back, and also the fact that too much carrying may cause more chances of dropping the urn.

            After everyone put on their shoes to leave, Nami, Akina, and Hiroshi all bowed to Minako as well, just as their mother had done earlier.  "It was a lovely visit, Aino San," Nami said, smiling.  "I am very glad to have met you.  You have treated us with such kindness, we cannot thank you enough."

            "Yeah, cool place," Akina nodded as she stretched a bit.  "Could do without the stairs and the supposed ghost, but can't do anything about either of that I guess."

            "That was an amazing story.  I'm still not sure if I could believe it but-- We will be seeing you tomorrow than, Aino San."  Hiroshi blushed as Minako waved goodbye to them with her cheerful and pretty smile.

            "Nice meeting you too!"  Minako called out as she watched them descend the one-hundred steps.  When they rounded the corner, Minako's expression became one of exhaustion.  "Ah, just when things were getting quiet it becomes all complicated again," Minako said to the crows as they fluttered by her feet.  They cawed as if in agreement, much to Minako's annoyance.  "Baka, you could have disagreed."  She stuck her tongue out at them before grinning a bit sheepishly when a few passer-bys looked up at her strangely.  "Rei Chan, where are you?"  Minako asked into the coming dusk, but there were no answers except for the caw of the crows as they leapt into the sky once more.

 

-           -           -           -           -

 

            "That was unnecessarily creepy," Akina mumbled as she rubbed her arm.  "I've never heard of Tokyo being a ghost town."

            Hiroshi was thoughtful.  "Aino San didn't seem like she was lying to us though.  And the Tokyo population has been dropping surprisingly quickly these past few decades.  Once it was such a populated city, too!  I had always wondered a bit to why this was so in school when the textbooks didn’t seem to be giving valid explanations for the phenomenon.  Still, I can understand it better now.  After all, who’d want to read that everyone leaving a place because of ghosts?"

            "Baka," Akina shot a sideways glance at her brother, "you're just taking her word because you have the hots for her.  No matter how crazy an idea she might be selling you, you'd still be eating it out of her hand.  I mean did you hear a word she said?  Woman with a crystal heart and heroines fighting monsters!  Really, who'd believe such things?"  Akina paused at this and shot Hiroshi a pointed look.  "Never mind," she sighed, airily waving off the last of her questions.

            "What?"  Hiroshi looked duly insulted.  "Unlike you, I'm not so easily moved by other people's good looks."

            "So you think she's good-looking then?" Akina challenged.

            "You'd have to be blind not to notice," Hiroshi retorted, "though it's not so hard to believe when it comes to you, Akina Chan."

            "What?"  Akina looked incensed.  "I'm your older sister remember?  Show some respect!"

            "Only when you act like one who can receive respect," Hiroshi calmly replied with a derisive air.

            Nami rubbed her temples as her siblings continued to squabble like children.  "Would the two of you at least try to act more your age?" Nami finally cut in harshly, shooting both of them an accusing glare.  "You're disgracing yourselves in public.  At least have the decency to wait till we get back to the hotel to fight over such trivial matters."

            "Aino San was kind enough to have us over for tea, Akina Chan," Iku added when her children settled to grumbling under their breaths.  "We should honor her for what she has agreed so willingly to do for us, even though we are strangers to her."  Their mother paused in her steps and glanced back at her youngest daughter with a look of disapproval.  "It is not good to slander others, Akina Chan, especially not behind their backs.  If they are kind to you, you should be equally kind in return.  Otherwise, it will lead to a cruel and vengeful personality.  Such a person would not appreciate anything anyone does for them."  Iku turned and continued to walk, leaving a shamed Akina behind with her siblings.

            Hiroshi glanced at his sister with a mixed expression on his face.  "What are you looking at?"  Akina bared her teeth at him defensively.

            "Nothing," he sighed and jogged to catch up with Nami and Iku.

            "Vengeful and... cruel, huh?"  Akina glanced up at the sky worriedly.  "Am I really like that?"

            A scream sounded off in the distance, alarming Akina greatly.  That sounded like Nami, Akina realized as she ran up ahead.  There Nami was leaned against the wall of the side walk with terror on her face, hand over her chest while Hiroshi was backed away against a telephone pole and Iku looked positively startled.  Nami's mouth was a gap as all three stared at a woman dressed strangely in a white sleeping robe.  "Eh?"  Akina blinked.

            "Watch out, Akina Chan!"  Hiroshi shouted as the woman approached her.  "That's a ghost!"

            "G-ghost?" Akina blinked at him and then at the woman who continued to walk towards her.  The stranger did appear to be exceptionally pale, but there was where the "ghost" part of her ended.  Head bowed, and trudging forward, the woman seemed oblivious to the world.

            Akina backed away, jumping slightly as she felt the hairs on her neck and arms rise as the woman passed by.  The side walk was suddenly very narrow and instead of bumping into Akina, the woman's arm went through Akina's own.  A terribly cold feeling passed through Akina's body.  "Gah!" Akina screamed and flattened herself against the wall.  "G-g-ghost!" she stuttered in disbelief.

            "Are you okay?"  Hiroshi rushed to her side, looking quite shaken himself.

            "Are Nami and Mother okay?"  Akina asked worriedly when her senses stopped reeling.  They glanced back to see Iku helping her daughter stand.

            "I didn't think Aino San was serious when she said this was a ghost town."  A shadow fell over the streets as the street lights flickered on.  The sudden change was so startling Akina let out another squeak of protest.  "This place is way creepier than I had thought!"

            "This is a strange place," Hiroshi agreed.  "We should get out of here as soon as possible!"  Both siblings couldn't believe that their father once lived in such a place, and that even in death, he caused them trouble by sending them unavoidably to where they now stood.

            "Totally creepy," Akina shuddered again.  And for the rest of the hurried journey the family was silent, glancing at everything they saw suspiciously, especially if it could move.

            The host at their hotel looked to them strangely as they entered.  "Kumada San!" he exclaimed.  "Whatever are you doing out so late?  It's not safe in Tokyo to travel at such a time.  It's not like Kobe here, you know?" he gently scolded them.  "Is the young miss okay?" the hotel manager asked worriedly when he saw the ashen color of Nami's cheeks and the glazed look that had yet to leave her expression since the incident.

            "I-I- G-ghost!"  Nami stammered out.

            The hotel manager blinked in surprise before falling into a shamed silence, his shoulders slumped a bit.  "I should have warned you," he sighed to himself.

            Akina came forward with an accusatory look on her face.  "Yes!  Yes, you should have!"

            "But would you have believed me?" the manager asked wisely.  "I've warned countless tourists before and they all come back looking like Kumada San over there if they stayed out after dark, as if they had not expected it.  In truth, they did not believe me."

            "Older Sister Nami would have!"  Akina put her hands on her hips with an unforgiving frown on her face.  "She believes in ghosts, and such a scare is not at all good for her health."

            "I deeply apologize," the manager sighed.

            "No, Manager San."  Iku smiled forgivingly.  "Nami Chan may have believed you, but my other children wouldn't have."  At this, both Hiroshi and Akina sputtered out protests that were ignored.  "They would have pushed that such things were superstitious and laughed at Nami Chan for believing.  We wouldn't have turned out any differently than now, only Nami Chan would have led even worse of a day, forced to go out with such beliefs in her head."

            The manager blushed a bit in shame.  "Have you eaten yet, Kumada San?" he inquired after a pause, not wanting to continue the subject of who was guilty for Kumada Nami's current conditions.

            "We had a snack along the way," Akina interrupted rudely, unwilling to admit fault still.

            The manager smiled.  "Then, why don't you have dinner on the hotel, having given you guys quite the scare."

            "And what about breakfast?"  Akina asked, rubbing her chin with a furtive twinkle in her eyes.

            "Akina Chan!"  Both Iku and Hiroshi scolded her for rude behavior.  Mother and son were soon bowing and blushing in utter shame to the manager again, while apologizing for Akina's actions all the way.

            "No, no, it's alright.  Breakfast too," the manager laughed in amusement, waving away Iku and Hiroshi's worries.  "Breakfast is on the house, too, Kumada San."  The manager nodded amiably.

 

To be continued…

 

           

            * Sakura - cherry tree, cherry blossom(s)

            * Miko -- Priestess

            * Hentai -- Strange and perverted man/woman

            - Minako is giving a story of her memories.  However, there are details in the flashbacks she would be omitting.  As readers, I just want you to keep in mind that not everything written in the flashback sessions are told to the Kumada family.  Just bits and pieces that Minako might have wanted to touch upon.  But because I want to elaborate a bit more so that you may see the history this story is built upon, please know that the Kumadas are hearing the tale of a particular memory you're reading but not everything you read is what they hear.

            - Ami is saying that she doesn't want to run into the ghost of Usagi or Mamoru (though both are officially MIA - not confirmed dead).  Both Luna and Artemis died in the event of 2000.  Artemis survived the event but died from internal injuries.  Both the cats' ghosts are in Tokyo!  (That is explained in a side story though, so it won't be focused in this story.)

            - Rei’s “blindness” refers to the fact that she can no longer have visions, not because she cannot see.

 

Special Thanks To:

My editor, Yumeko San!  She had to wade through my horrible grammar to help me polish this baby to perfection!  Thank you so much Yumeko San!  I would be so lost without you!  [Dabs away tears of gratitude]

 

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