Snowblood

Chapter 19: A Slight Change of Plans

Getting everything set up was more complicated than Kitaro had imagined, because for one thing, you couldn't charm dead leaves to look like money in order to pay for things any more. Well, you could, but it didn't work very well when people required 'credit cards' for things with recurring payments. Sojo-bo-sama had helped him a great deal by setting him up with a cell phone, which he apparently he would need to stay in touch with Kari once he made contact with her.

He would still have to account for so many things—such as why he would have so little knowledge of computers, music, and so on, but the phone was a start. He turned to the small black bakeneko who was sitting like a cat statuette on the wall at a height with his eyes. "So, you understand that after I come out the front door, you're to wait a while before you start wailing at the back door?"

The cat yokai flipped an ear which suggested an empress's disdain for a vulgar and unfunny court jester. Of course she understood. He was fortunate she was even willing to consider going along with his scheme. It promised to be amusing, that was the only reason.

"And you'll make sure you, uh, smell right to him? He's not all cat, you know. Just the back half," Kitaro reminded her. "You don't actually have to let him, since I know that would be lowering yourself. I just need him out of the building."

Her eye flick suggested that the back half was the most pertinent under the circumstances and the rest was inconsequential. It was amazing how much communication could go on between two yokai without a word being spoken.

"Okay, then. I'm going in." Kitaro squared his shoulders, put on a concerned face, and went up the steps of the Ryokan Kanesei Hana.

Approaching the innkeeper, he bowed and began, "Excuse me, but have you seen a small black cat around, a female cat? It's my grandmother's. She got out when I opened the door, and since she's in heat right now, she shouldn't be outside. Please, if you have seen her, help me! My grandmother will be devastated if I can't find her cat."

"Ahhh," the innkeeper said, befuddled. "No, we haven't seen any cat around here. There's just the American girl's pet, but it's not properly a cat, and it's not female or black. Good luck finding your grandmother's pet, though."

"Thank you," Kitaro winced. "I have a few more places to look. Please, if you do see her, lure her inside and keep her. I'll pay you! I can pay...two thousand, no, five thousand yen as a reward."

"Five thousand? You must be very fond of your grandmother," the innkeeper remarked.

"I am, but it's more than that. She could have a stroke if she gets upset. I'm off, I have to keep looking. I am very sorry for being troublesome!" He tossed the last part of the statement over his shoulder as he dashed out.

Running around to the back of the building, he put on that aura which fool human eyes into thinking he wasn't there, and waited. Before long, the bakeneko trotted along, her tail held up but with a curl at the end, which said 'Friendly but unsure' to anyone who understood cat body language, and she began to wail. It was a good wail, long and frail, not so high pitched as to grate on the nerves, but a slightly desperate "Meooowwwwooooowwwwoooooowww!"

She repeated herself twice before the back door opened. "Hey, it's that cat the kid was looking for. Aww, are you lost, kitty?" The innkeeper squatted down and held out a hand.

"Is that so?" His daughter appeared behind him. "You said he was paying a reward for her, right?"

"Yes, five thousand yen. Get a piece of that fresh tuna, maybe we can lure her in..." the man speculated.