Nezushi House Spirit

Mainland

Spring came a few weeks later. The buds on the trees growing, fairies, Brownies, all creatures along their daily walk held out newborns for the humans to see. Shion laughed, hugged or kissed them all. Nezumi was a little more resigned. He didn't say much but would peer at the baby as Shion delighted in it.

Then the day came that Rikiga arrived. Shion had been finishing up gathering some debris by the shore to move it into the woods. He looked up seeing the boat twisting to come into their dock. Spinning around, he ran off to find Nezumi.

"The boat man! The boat man has returned!" Shion cried.

"Oh, great! Let's invite him to lunch. Then you can pack for, hmmm, three days?" Nezumi asked with a smirk on his lips.

"Three days of what?" Shion asked looking both excited and worried.

"You said you've never left this island." Nezumi's grin grew over his face.

Shion starred at him, uncomprehendingly at first. The boat drew closer to the dock. He could see it swing in behind the tall dark haired man before him. Shion was in awe at the smile on Nezumi's face. But he felt as if it was wrong some how. He was apart of the island. The others couldn't just leave at will. That had been what tied them together.

"You're wrong, Shion." The soft voice of Gia came to him.

"The others have been able to leave. Many have seen the human world but choose to love here in the peace you provide them." She offered.

"Humans don't see us, so it's easy for us to go to the human cities." A fairy flew to his shoulder to explain.

"Yes, really only the dryads are stuck here, but they don't see anything past their tree as it is." An elf observed as he was bringing over some seeds for Shion to plant.

"You, you won't mind me going?" Shion asked.

"Well, we will miss you, but it's only for a few days." The fairy tickled as she laughed.

"I think we can manage for a few days without you, house...uh human..." The elf rubbed at his nose as he almost misspoke.

Shion laughed. "I don't know what to pack!" Nezumi chuckled.

"You have an hour. I'm sure I can keep Rikiga busy for that long." The dark haired human went down to greet the boat.

Shion walked into their shared bedroom. He saw that Nezumi had a small bag packed sitting on the bed. He frowned. Had Nezumi seen the boat from the hill top? Shion giggled as he saw another pack setting empty beside his boyfriends. He picked it up.

The fairy had followed him. Together they selected three outfits for Shion to take with him. Before, when he was a spirit, the weather didn't affect him much. Now he felt the cold, the damp, the heat of the day more. He selected a robe as well as a jacket to take. Wearing a sturdy pair of boots, he swung the back to his back.

Picking up Nezumi's, Shion headed down to the kitchen. He made sure everything was stored properly away. Leaving the packs by the front door, he checked on the water flow, the electricity anything that may break or stop working. After his inspections, he figured everything was in place.

He went back to the front door. There stood the boy he had once saved. He knew it from the story Nezumi told him. Shion bowed to the man, surly he wouldn't recognize Shion.

"Its you!" the man cried. "But how? You haven't aged a day!" he looked bewildered at the former house spirit.

"Many say I resemble my father greatly." Shion explained.

The one thing that was different about him now, was he no longer had the mark of his entanglement to the house. No longer was there a ribbon of red that marred his body. In fact, his pale hair was slowly changing. He had noticed darker roots at the hairline. Even his eyes were loosing the redness to them. He wondered if Nezumi would even like the person Shion was becoming.