Nezushi House Spirit

Haunted dreams

Nezumi awoke with a start. He shook his head. That dream again! It was the same nearly every night. He had to do something! He couldn't allow that to be the last time he saw the house spirit!

The walk in the woods had been nice having Shion beside him. The little picnic was perfect. Everything felt right like it should be. Then he heard the gasp. Turning around he had seen Shion's face contorted in pain. The red scar wrapping his body seemed to be cutting into him. Shion fought to stay near Nezumi, even yelling out how he could get to the docks before the pale white form just vanished.

Nezumi had been rooted to the spot, his hand reaching out. Shion had just... disappeared. He had tried singing him back, but nothing happened. Torn between going back to search for him, or going on to meet Rikiga, Nezumi stood undecided for some time. In the end, he turned to walk to the docks.

Shion had been right, it was only about another seven minutes before Nezumi found the boat docks. He had walked down to the water. Rikiga wasn't anywhere to be seen. Nezumi had sat down. He pondered over what he should do. Before he had been able to make up his mind the boat pulled up before him.

"Ha, you survived! Inukashi isn't going to like this." Rikiga laughed tossing out a line.

Nezumi hadn't said much as he helped the boatman get turned around. He tugged on the line until the boat was facing back out to sea. Stepping aboard, Nezumi looked back to the island. It looked different to him. Even from here he could see the slight fluttering of wings, the dark shapes of the larger beasts, or even the weird mist that floated near the swap.

The one thing he couldn't see was Shion. He didn't see the inn or the house spirit. Nezumi watched the island fall away as Rikiga drove them back to the mainland. When he couldn't see the strip of land after coming around a corner, he glanced to Rikiga.

"Tell me what you know about that island." Nezumi demanded.

"Just what will you pay me for such information?" the man demanded.

With Rikiga everything had a price. It may not all be monetary, as in his dealings with Shion. Nezumi picked up his bag. He had searched the inn to find other things to fix it with. Upon doing so, he had found the wine caller. This wasn't even in the top ten best bottles that were hidden down there. He had selected this one because it wouldn't have hurt Shion for him to take it. He also planned to pay for it.

Rikiga's eyes grew round as they landed on the bottle. Nezumi held it so he could see the year it had been distilled. The man was all but slobbering for it. Nezumi held it away from his greedy hands.

"Info first." He growled.

"Fine!" Rikiga huffed. He turned his back on Nezumi, but kept his eye on the bottle.

"It has been passed through some hands. The family who first owned it built the inn. They had a very successful business back in the day. It was a highly sought after vacation spot for the rich and upcoming celebrities." Rikiga stated.

"But then, the matriarch of the family died. The land passed to the eldest son. He was killed in a bizarre accident. Yet the island still thrived. It wasn't until an uncle took charge of it after the third son perished mysteriously, that the inn began to fail."

Rikiga shifted the boat to swing around some debris in the water. He flicked his eyes to Nezumi kicking at his lips.

"Go on." Nezumi pressed.

"The uncle was known to have some shoddy practices. Dealings related to underworld events things like that. There was even a rumor going around that he was some sort of pirate, in his hayday." Rikiga laughed.