Lost
"Genuemon?" Misono poked around on deck, looking for her family. She found him chatting animatedly with strangers in a language she didn't know. She looked down at the picnic basket in her hands. She'd snuck in to the kitchens and charmed the cooks into giving her a lunch for two...but she knew her family and she knew he wouldn't want to leave
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"Humans are fun when they're trying to find something and it's not where it's supposed to be," he agreed. "I did it to the Caesar's crown once. He was late to his meetings because of it, and he was furious until he realized it was me. Then he was furious but couldn't help laughing so I spent the rest of the day helping him get away from state affairs to make up for it."
Kazunari chuckled a little. He tucked his other arm behind his head, wings flat on the deck. "I think it's good to know where the important things are. They need to be kept safe from human wars. I take those. I don't think it's stealing either because they'll get it back when they're ready for it."
When they could find it, anyway.
"My ghosts... are mostly just dead," he said a while later. "Some of them don't realize it, and they're just living like they always did when they were alive. Some can't leave because they left something important unfinished and some don't want to leave. Some of them can't see me. Those ones are usually in a moment that they don't want to get out of because they were really happy. I talk to them a lot."
It was why he'd had to leave. The ghosts left by the war were too numerous. They made his head hurt.
"I'm pretty sure none of them lick bathrooms. That's kind of gross."
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"Important things..." Misono had lost a lot, had seen a lot get lost. "That's a good idea, Kazunari-kun, hiding it until they're ready for it. "Japan should have someone like you." She never had real hiding places of her own and her magic couldn't do anything like that. "Instead of bathroom lickers--and they're are SO gross and so angry about doing what they're doing. And they pick to do it!"
But his ghosts... "Oh, your ghosts are only people-ghosts?" Japan had those. "In Japan, we use 'ghost' for lots of things, for all kinds of spirits. But not for everything. Like, a jatai isn't a ghost, it's just an obi that turned into a snake." She tugged on the top of her obi to illustrate. "And there are beings like me who aren't human but we're not ghosts and we're not demons. But ghost is pretty catch-all."
Kazunari seemed a tiny bit sad. "You know, talking to the ghosts is one thing and it's a good thing because it IS a good thing but I bet they're glad that you're still living, that you're living on from that point." She turned her eyes up to the sky, fingers against her obi cord, "Life is for the living. The cherry blossoms fall but they always bloom again, right?"
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The problem with keeping a king for a favorite was that you really didn't get any time with them alone. There was always something they had to be doing or attending to and there were always people surrounding them. That particular Caesar hadn't even been Kazunari's Favorite - he was just a man while Kazunari waited to find his next one.
"I've only ever met a person-ghost," he said. "And definitely none of them would lick bathrooms short of being forced to. Although... I've heard of animal ghosts, though I've never seen one. But anything else has its own name. Probably."
The ones he'd come across all had had their own names, at least.
"I wonder if the humans will ever come back. I know it's a belief that they do. I haven't ever met a human I used to know in a new body, though."
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Eh. That was the past. "That's over, though. We're going to a new life, so we shouldn't focus on it." The sky was so blue. It'd be really nice if the ship wasn't swaying. "Like the ghosts--in Japan, there are lots of ghosts and spirits and people who aren't human. There are eight million gods in Japan." She wrinkled her nose. "And things that turn alive after a hundred years of use."
Ahhh! "They do come back. They're not...the same. But there's something at the core that's the same. Like, my 'niichan Koetsu was an artist--he wrote beautiful words--and one day I heard a song and it wasn't the same but I knew that my 'niichan had come back and had written that song." Some part of their soul was always the same and if she'd truly loved them, she recognized them. Or at least thought she did. She had no proof. But she was sure in her heart. "But you know? I don't go looking for them, not ever. I don't want to be a ghost for them."
She looked at Kazunari and smiled suddenly. "We won't be ghosts for each other, you and me."
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He smiled shyly and ducked his head to hide it, taking his whole body with the motion and winding up on his stomach. His arms propped his torso and his wings fluttered thoughtfully. "Maybe some day I'll see Marie, then. But I won't go looking, either." He nodded to himself firmly. Then he looked over at Misono. "Thank you. For today."
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But. This was not about sad things. "You will. There's a story about the red thread of fate--how it ties you to the one you're meant to be with forever. And we might not be human, but I think we tie our own treads and when we do, our people might tie them back to us. So we're always connected." She held out her little finger to him. "Your Marie, one day she'll be by your side again. One day, sister will be by mine. Between falling and blooming, there's time for lots of things." She smiled. "Thank you for today. And for tomorrow. All the days, right?"
She was going to tie her thread to him, too: like it or not, he was her Kazunari.
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Only he didn't have any humans to watch anymore. And setting a pair of shoes loose on a ship could be super funny, but it could seriously delay their trip. Kazunari didn't think he wanted to be on a boat any longer than he absolutely had to be. (Really, if it came to it, he'd make the water push them along faster just to get off the thing.)
He settled on his elbows and smiled faintly. "I like that," he said. "The thread of fate. Maybe we have gold threads. I think those suit us better. They'd be sparkly." He looked over at Misono, leaning on one elbow and sticking out the pinky of his free hand. He hooked their pinkies. "I don't have a real gold thread, but this will last until I can find one. It might take a while. A long, long while."
He didn't think he'd be able to leave Misono alone now.
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And she would, truly, because they were tied. "Gold threads," she agreed, hooking her little finger even more tightly with his. "Because we'll last longer than threads or ribbons." They'd last forever. "I'll wait until you find one, a real gold thread." She beamed at him. "Not a strand of gold, a thread that's been spun!" Because that would take longer. She giggled. "I said that because I want to keep you!"
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Kazunari flushed dimly even as he laughed. Only a handful of people had ever said anything about keeping him over the many years. None had said it like Misono. He left their fingers hooked and slid down to rest his head on his arm.
"A thread that's been spun from gold. That's something I can't do and there aren't anymore Rumpelstiltskin-types running around. None that I've met, at least. They might be able to do that for you. But now it's gonna take a long, long, long time."
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His wings were lovely in the sunlight, he seemed brighter in the light than just being in the sunlight could account for. She smiled at the warmth in her little finger, all gold and lovely. "I know we had plans, but I think we should take a tiny nap, first. There's time to do everything a little later, right?"
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He left his finger hooked into Misono's. His wings descended to the deck and he sighed softly.
"A nap sounds good. We have all the time in the trip and then some for everything else."
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