2 A Wandering Soul

The forest was becoming a labyrinth of trees, shrubs, vines, and bushes, Kagura would be lost herself if not for the wailing of the unknown spirit acting as a beacon in the dark, mazelike woods. The high pitched cries are becoming louder and louder, more pronounced as Kagura moves closer to the source. She could make out the shuddering breaths in-between sobs and she couldn't help but feel sad. Hayabusa would quietly mock her for her tendency to be overly empathic, but she treasured her emotional personality, especially as, in the ways of the onmyoji, communing, and therefore symphatizing with spirits are a must. One must know a spirit's motive for their reasoning behind their staying on the mortal plane or wreaking havoc among its inhabitants. Finally, as she turned to a corner, trees and foliage suddenly making way for a small grassy patch with one single well in the middle, Kagura saw the figure of a woman in white robes, her head, covered by her hands resting on her knees as she wept. She was a spirit indeed, Kagura thought, for her umbrella shook in her hand eagerly at the sight of the ghost. Also, she was kind of transparent in her extremities. Kagura inhaled. Then she exhaled. Then she took a step forward towards the well where the spirit was hunched down.

"Hello?" Kagura said as a way of greeting. The spirit's head immediately rose at the sound of her voice. The girl's tear streaked face met Kagura's gaze.

"Y-you can see me?" The female spirit asked Kagura as she wiped her face with her see-through hand.

"Yes, I can see you," Kagura walked slowly towards the spirit, and when the girl did not show signs of protesting, fear, or attacking, she quickened her pace to meet her on the grass. "Do not be afraid, I am here to help you, if I can. If I may, what is your name?"

"My n-name," the spirit's voice trembled. "I think my name is Yumeko."

"Hello then, Yumeko," Kagura smiled at the spirit, "my name is Kagura. I'm an onmyoji."

The girl didn't act surprised, "I see, no wonder you can see me. And, also, your umbrella's emitting this weird... spiritual energy. I can feel it."

"Yes, but don't worry. I only use my umbrella to defend myself. No need to be afraid."

"Oh, I'm not afraid," the spirit smiled, for once. Kagura felt her heartstrings tingle and she smiled, too.

"Well, Yumeko, what seems to be the problem?" Kagura asked. At the question, the girl- Yumeko's- face transformed into a grieving wreck. Kagura's heart almost broke.

"M-my problem? Oh Kagura," she sniffed, "I've been walking this- this undead life for centuries!" Yumeko rose and started drifting around the well, her feet never touching the ground. "I've been cursed to just stay here and stand guard over this well, or something like that! Only because my master deemed me unfaithful towards him and his household! He threw me off this well, but not before he cursed that I never find peace! How cruel can he be! I never even did anything wrong! It wasn't my fault that his golden set of plates suddenly went missing! I swear it wasn't me!"

Kagura felt Yumeko's malcontent through the air, her fury and sadness masking the air around them with the distinct smell of rotten eggs, things spirits often let waft around when they are in a bad mood, just like Yumeko right now.

"Kagura, if I may ask you, why has my master passed through the gates of the afterlife and I have not? When I am innocent and he was nothing but a murderer?" Yumeko cried out, tears once again falling down her face, her alabaster robes billowing in sadness and rage.

"It is probably because of the curse he gave to you before your death. Words are powerful, despite them just being... well, words." Kagura replied in a reassuring tone. "He cursed you to be trapped here, and so you are. But I can help you with that, Yumeko. I can let you pass on to the afterlife."

Yumeko, to Kagura's surprise, shook her head. "No," she replied, adamantly, "I do not wish to be in the same realm as the one with my murderer. I just want to be destroyed. I just want to simply not exist. To not be.

"I've been weeping and weeping for centuries about this, and after some time, I realized that I wasn't crying because I wish to ascend to the afterlife. I was yearning to simply not exist. The afterlife wouldn't allow me to exact my vengeance upon the man who did this," she gestured to her whole body, "to me! They would just send me back here and force me to live my life as a sad old wraith for eternity until madness finally takes me."

Kagura sat silently for a moment before standing up. She was shorter than Yumeko, but she didn't let that intimidate her. "Are you sure you want this? Because if this is your request, I would gladly see it through. But if you think that you have any other option, any at all, we can take that route if you'd like."

"No," Yumeko replied, her voice as hard as stone, "I choose this path."

"As you wish," Kagura said, placing her umbrella on the ground. She closed her eyes and raised her hands, her open palms meeting Yumeko's spectral frame.

"This won't hurt a bit, Yumeko," Kagura assured her, "you'd simply disappear in seconds. Don't worry." Kagura mustered her magic towards her hands, her veins pulsing with spiritual energy as she does so. Slowly, she opened her eyes once again, seeing as her hands started glowing a faint pink glow as she touched Yumeko's spirit. The girl's face was taciturn, unyielding.

Until she looked at the umbrella on the ground. The seimei umbrella was twitching in the grass and then suddenly sprung upwards and opened.

"What's happening with your umbrella, Kagura?" the spirit asked in a tone that, if Kagura didn't know any better, bordered on fascination.

"Oh, my umbrella is attracted to the essence of spirits," Kagura explained, her hands still illuminating the area in a pinkish hue, "See, my umbrella has over a hundred monsters inside it. My family, who owns the umbrella, used it to battle evil monsters and spirits, as well as the occasional evil mortal. But don't worry, I'm not sending you in the umbrella, I promise."

Yumeko stood, or rather, floated there in silence for a couple heartbeats before answering. "You know what? I'd actually like that."

Kagura was dumbfounded, "What? You want what?"

"I want to be a part of your umbrella, Kagura. No, I'm serious!" Yumeko chuckled as she probably saw the shock in Kagura's face.

"Why?" was the only thing Kagura could say.

"Well, you said that the umbrella is a tool your people used to combat the forces of evil. Be it spirit or man. Well, I want that. I want to be able to help put an end to the cruelty of this world, spectral or material. I want people like my master to pay for being what they are: monsters. And I know that I may just be trapped inside your umbrella for another eternity, but it wouldn't matter. At least now I will have purpose. At least then I actually have something worthwhile to do than just grumble and weep."

Yumeko's resolve was so powerful that Kagura could not do anything more than smile and nod.

"Are you sure?" she asked, one last time.

"Absolutely," Yumeko answered back. And with that, Kagura grabbed her umbrella, still floating beside her, spinning like a top, and offered it to Yumeko, who gladly took its wooden handle in her pale white hands. The umbrella was able to be handled by spirits only when the owner sees fit, which Kagura does.

As Yumeko rested the umbrella on her shoulder, another rosy glow lit up under the umbrella, bathing the ghost girl in its light. Yumeko smiled again, one final smile, for as she looked at Kagura one last time, she mouthed her thanks, closed her eyes, and became one with the umbrella.

"Thank you, Yumeko, and welcome," Kagura spoke in a hushed tone towards Yumeko inside her umbrella: the words the onmyoji always utter after a spirit joins in their aid to fight against those who needed fighting. Kagura grabbed the umbrella from where it spun in front of her and closed it. As she did so, the forest once again was slowly filled with the sounds it once lost. The wind was back, the insects were buzzing again, and Kagura could only smile as she took her gaze towards the night sky once again and made her way north.