Come by Night 3: Kitsune No Yomeiri

Chapter Four - The Quest for Tsukiko

*kabukimono - a flashy type of bandit

There's no air. I cannot breathe! It is like drowning all over again, and I panic. I feel Mitsuaki's hand squeeze mine and I hold it for everything I am worth. I dare not let go! I fear if I do, I will lose him, and myself, forever. I expected to hit water when I leapt, but there was never any impact or sensation of wet. Instead, I seem to have jumped off a mountain into a bottomless chasm.

I open my eyes, but I cannot see anything. Wind rushes past, but I can't take it in. There are bright dots swimming in my vision... nausea. I can't even breathe to scream. I'm dying!

"Hold firm, little firefly," I hear the koi's rich voice in my head. "You are nearly there."

I squeeze my eyes shut again. And then...

My feet touch ground. Or maybe it is more appropriate to say I find myself standing. It's a lot like a dream. I open my eyes and I feel so much gratitude to see Mitsuaki standing in front of me. Tears stream down my cheeks, blurring his narrow features. I collapse against him. He holds me, soothing me until I can stand on my own.

I know he's thinking I shouldn't have come, but thankfully he does not say it. He looks around, and so do I. It is a green field, with patches of woodland dotting the landscape. We are on a broad path that leads into a golden horizon. It is dawn.

"Where are we?" I croak, trying not to vomit on him. I breathe steadily and succeed.

"Your world. This is the road to the Celestial Realm," he whispers. I watch my nine-tailed fox shiver. "We are in danger here. I am a notorious yōkai kabukimono outlaw and you are my human wife. Upon our lives, we cannot be seen."

He pulls two broadleaves from the sleeve of his kimono and blows upon them. They glow gold for a second, then the aura fades. I know what this is. It's his kitsune illusion magic.

He holds a green leaf out to me and I reach out tentatively to take it. It tingles in my hand.

"Put it on your head," he says, and I do. I don't feel any different, but when I look at him, I no longer see my Mitsuaki. He now looks like a common pilgrim and when I look down at myself, I see that I look like his female counterpart, a poor merchant's wife.

"The kami meet once a year at the great shrine of Izumo Ōyashiro, across the veil from the earthly Izumo. That time in your world and theirs is now. It is autumn, as when I came for you a few weeks ago. Come."

He sets off down the road and I scramble after him. I do not question that he knows which direction to go. I suppose he would know, given that he was once a divine servant.

"What are we going to do?" I ask my husband. I just want to get my baby and go back home.

"We are on the road to Izumo in the human world. We must cross over to the Celestial Realm, where the kami's convocation is occurring. It is there the gods will decide what to do with our daughter."

"What – what will they do to our little Tsukiko?"

"I expect they will imprison her in a gilded cage and use her as a weapon whenever the need arises. That is what they usually do with abominations."

"Our daughter is not an abomination!"

Mitsuaki smiles. "No. But that is how they think of her. To rescue her, we have to play a little game. Even the kami have desires for rare and beautiful things, and there are those who provide them."

"But we don't have anything to sell," I blurt out.

"Not yet. I'll take care of it," he says confidently.

"How—"

He stops in the road and looks at me. "I need you to put faith in me. Tell me truthfully, can you manage this, Hotaru?"

I swallow. Can I? But when I think of Tsuki-chan, I nod.

"I need you to promise me that you will follow my lead, without question. Will you do that for me, Hotaru?"

I have no idea where I am or what I am doing. I do not have magic and I have never met a god. I must rely on Mitsuaki to get through this. He is afraid he will lose me in this venture, and Tsukiko, too. Will I be a liability to him?

No. I will not allow it. I can help him. I know I can.

"I will do what you say, husband."

He sighs in relief and we start walking again.

I might be afraid, and I don't know where I will sleep or when I will eat again, but I will do neither of those things anyway until my Tsukiko is safe. How will we protect her when we get home? That is a problem we will tackle once we have her, I tell myself. I will not lose hope. The gods will not take my happiness from me.