Kitsune Matsuri: The Open Gateway Page 8

  “I see. Well, as the father of a son who fell in love with a westerner, I will trust you to use your best judgment in your relationship with this young woman. Now I need some time to finish my work.”

  So that’s what happened with their son.

  I nodded. “Thank you, Jomei-san.”

  Aoki was on the phone when I looked in through the back door. I didn’t want to interrupt her. I felt the inescapable urge to take a walk. I glanced up at the mountain. It seemed so nice and peaceful up there.

  What could it hurt to go out and stretch my legs?

  I eased myself away from the back door and walked over to the wall, glancing back toward the house and Jomei’s shack. Both he and Aoki would probably wonder where I went.

  No point in worrying about that now though.

  I pulled myself up on top of the wall and balanced precariously, eyeing the narrow alleyway that ran behind the house. It wasn’t a far drop down, but the height of the wall certainly gave a different sense of proportion.

  There were trash cans pushed up against the wall beneath me, and I figured to use them as a step. I slowly lowered myself, reaching out a toe to catch the edge of the nearest can. As my foot touched, I felt the can give way, and I tumbled to the earth sprawling into scattered refuse.

  That was stupid.

  I lay there a moment feeling foolish and sneaky, skulking behind the wall like some vagrant. It was very dark behind the houses, lit only by the flickering light of a few old street lamps that hung down from the buzzing power poles.

  Taking a short walk along the dim alleyway, I found myself on the main street that led up the mountain path. It wasn’t much farther before the houses merged into unbroken bamboo groves. There were no lights to guide my way, no clearly defined road other than the forest floor.

  I should have brought a flashlight.

  Pushing aside an errant branch, I moved slowly up the path allowing my eyes to grow accustomed to the gloom. The forest around me was a world of shadow with the bamboo becoming great looming pillars. A floating mist drifted across the damp earth. Moonlight pierced the branches and gave me little pools of illumination to guide my way.

  Suddenly, a flash of something caught the corner of my eye. A distant blue flame glimmered in the trees up ahead.

  What’s that?

  Moving carefully, I edged my way along mindful of the thick roots that lined the path. The light came closer with each step I took. Then without warning, it went out and left me in inky blackness. I cursed as I nicked my arm against the thick bark of a tree.

  “Bah, darn it!” My fingers traced a little stinging path and something warm on my arm. Blood.

  This is what I get for being stupid.

  I squinted through the gloom. Something was in the darkness just ahead. A small structure hunkered in a little niche beneath the branches of a very large tree.

  It was a small shrine, no more than a makeshift shack of grey boards with bamboo mats on dusty floorboards covered with leaves. In the center was an altar with a worn brown placard covered in Japanese kanji and an old candle in front of it. A single fox statue lay amid the remnants of a moth eaten red bib.

  I guessed the candle might be the source of the earlier light, but a touch to its tip, however, proved it cold and unused. It looked like no one had been here in a long time. Cobwebs hung in the corners.

  I couldn’t help but feel sorry for whoever had built this shrine. Someone took a lot of time and care to make a sacred place for the spirits to gather, but now it looked long forgotten.

  Well, no sense in leaving it this way.

  Crouching down, I cleared away the leaves and straightened the statue.

  I guess I do my Boy Scout training proud.

  I put my hands together and offered a simple prayer.

  I hope that I have pleased the spirit of this shrine.

  I opened my eyes, but nothing stirred. The shrine lay in silence as it had when I arrived.

  I sighed. I should head back.

  My first steps away from the shrine found me stumbling over a large boulder.

  Funny, I don’t remember this stone coming up the path.

  “That was a very kind thing you did, Gaijin.” The sudden sound of a woman’s voice caught me off guard. I spun around.

  “Who’s there?” Nothing answered my question. I called out again. “I know you’re here. I saw the light up at the shrine!”

  “You should know the answer to your own question by now, Tobias Blackwood,” she replied.

  I balled my fists. “I’m not about to play games! Where are you?”

  “Why, I am right here, Gaijin.” The surface of the boulder shifted beneath me. Looking down, I saw a pair of gleaming golden eyes staring at me.

  The form of a fox cast in stone rippled through the surface of the boulder. The fox moved as if in a dream and stretched her fore and hind paws out as if shaking from a long slumber. Blue fire danced around two bushy tails, once a coil of moss. They swayed back and forth to catch the edges of low-lying branches.

  “You should watch where you step.”

  Terror gripped me as I fell back into the dirt. I shook my head. “You’re not real! This is just some weird delusion! I must have hit my head.”

  She opened her mouth in a muffled yawn, revealing smoothly formed teeth that looked like tiny daggers. Those golden eyes stared at me quietly, slit pupils widening in the darkness.

  A long tongue lolled to the side of her mouth like an expectant dog’s. “I am more real than you want to admit, and you know it, Gaijin.”

  “I’ve gone insane. I’ve somehow completely and utterly lost my mind.”

  She chuckled. “If that’s what you want to believe, I am not opposed. I’ve always thought you mortals were crazy myself.”

  I glared at the fox. “You’re not helping!”

  She shrugged regarding me with quiet mirth. “What harm is there in speaking to me? You say I can’t be real, so why not play along? You have nothing to fear from me, Gaijin.”

  I paused hesitating. “Fine, I’ll play. Why are you here?”

  “I am one of the keepers of this particular shrine. It has been a long time since a human has attended to it and given such care.” Her head dipped low to the earth as if to bow toward me, her eyes half closed as paws bent to allow the deepest gesture. “You have my thanks.”

  “Your thanks?”

  “For cleaning a shrine of Inari,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Gods, you are rather dense.”

  “Oh, well, I didn’t think it was anything special,” I admitted. “No offense to Inari, of course!”

  She came closer to me until her face was inches from my own. “You are a very curious one, Gaijin. I was surprised the first time I saw you. I cannot recall ever speaking to a westerner. Then again, you are an extraordinary young man, Tobias Blackwood.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  “You told me once before. Don’t you remember?”

  I froze. “The girl on the path! The fox I saw after she disappeared!” I stared at her. “Who are you?”

  “Ah, that is the first intelligent question you’ve asked. A name is a powerful thing in the wrong hands. It can be twisted against one by treacherous spirits or tiresome mortals. As I said once before, you may call me Matsuri.” She sat down on her haunches, tails coiled around her feet.”

  “Then you are a kitsune!”

  “Correct, human,” she said with a yawn.

  “You were praying at Fushimi the other night so that means you’re one of Inari’s foxes?”

  She chuckled to herself with a flick of her tails. “You have a penchant for stating the obvious.”

  I frowned.

  This fox is taunting me.

  The obvious fact that I was speaking to a talking fox seemed like the least strange thing this evening.

  “Why are you stalking me?”

  “Stalking you?” Her head half-cocked to one side. “Don’t flatter yourself. As I said, I fin
d you curious. I am not following you for any other reason than that.”

  “Why did you trick me then? You left those coins on the ground and then faked me out up on the trail!”

  She laughed. “I needed a distraction, Gaijin”

  “Well, thanks, I guess.” I scratched the back of my head. “Hey! You’re a shape-shifter right? Can I see you transform into something, like your human form again?”

  She scoffed. “I’m not a dog, Gaijin. I won’t simply sit or roll over at your command.”

  “Oh, of course. I didn’t mean it like that!”

  She must have noticed my obvious disappointment because she sighed and her furry shoulders slumped with resignation. “Oh, all right. Fine! I’ll do it, but only because you did one favor in turn.”

  She stepped back and planted her feet firmly on the ground, and her eyes closed. As I watched, a blue aura like a fire began to ripple from her tails and coursed along her entire body.

  Her torso changed shifting upwards as she rose from four legs to two. Stubby toes on her forepaws grew out as they became hands and fingers tipped with fine claws. Her hind legs changed to human feet, fur dissipating into soft pink skin.

  I watched awestruck. My body tingled as if charged with static electricity. The transformation flowed seamlessly, molding her body as if it were clay. Her ears shrank to the side of her head as black hair grew and fell long down her back. Her muzzle shifted back, but the changes to her human face were immediately concealed by the white features of a kitsune mask.

  When it was finished, she turned with golden eyes twinkling behind the dark recesses of the mask. “Well, what do you think?”

  I was completely at a loss for words. Where there had once been a fox, there was now the woman from my balcony. She was dressed in the same fox-red kimono as before, and her tails had become the obi sash around her waist. In fact, if it weren’t for the tails and that mask, she would be almost completely unrecognizable from the animal she’d been moments before.

  I stuttered and stumbled over my words. “It’s breathtaking! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

  “Do you always act this way when you see a lady changing?”

  “What? No! It wasn’t like that!” I cried out, blushing.

  She laughed derisively. “I’m joking, Gaijin. I have to admit, the look on your face watching my transformation was priceless.”

  “You seem to enjoy having fun at my expense,” I grumbled.

  Her eyes softened. “Oh, come now. Do not be a poor sport. It is in my nature to test a human’s worth. As it is, you’ve caught my attention by taking time to clean the shrine. You are a westerner unfamiliar with our customs, but you can actually see and hear me. Yes, there is something about you that I cannot quite put my paw upon at the moment, but it piques my curiosity.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You shall find out in your own due time, my dear Gaijin. Now, dust yourself off and get home. You are worried after.”

  She bowed with a flourish of her tails and another dip of her head. Then she leaped up into the air as the blue flame drifted around her body once more. The fire lingered in the air a moment before she vanished with a sound of subtle laughter.

  I stood a minute in awe.

  This is all more real than I wanted to admit.

  I sighed and shook my head. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for tonight.”

  Aoki was waiting for me at the door when I came down off the mountain. She immediately came out, fussing after me as I came up the walkway to the house. “There you are, Tobias-san! You had us both worried. I had dessert waiting for you when you left! Where did you go?”

  I shook my head, not sure what I should say. I wasn’t about to admit what I had just experienced, at least not yet.

  “Sorry. I guess I needed to take a walk to get my head on straight.” I sighed. “I think I’ll skip dessert and go to bed. I have to work tomorrow.”

  “Sleep well, Tobias-san.”

  The beautiful black fox statue was sitting on my bed. The features seemed to glisten with the same lifelike glow of the white one. I lifted it up and found a little parchment written in English beneath its paws. I closed the door and sat down on my bed, opening the letter.

  Tobias-san,

  Keep in mind something my father and grandfather told me. Be as the fox of Inari, keen and wise. Do not allow wild foxfire to beguile you.

  —Jomei

  I closed my fingers around the statue.

  This is all so bizarre, so surreal. What would anyone back home think?

  I shook my head and traced my fingers over the statue’s ears and recalled the kitsune’s words. “I am more real than you want to admit, and you know it, Gaijin.”

  It was a rather strange and lonely ride to work over the following weeks. I felt like an island in a sea of Japanese people. Even when John was there, I felt out of place and alone. It was something I couldn’t escape. Following my lesson plans, class went well, and the children seemed to enjoy hearing me repeat Japanese words as I tried to learn them. I reduced them to giggles a few times.

  At lunchtime one day, Michiko and I ate outside beneath the branches of what was becoming our favorite tree. From here I could watch the children play while quietly munching on the vegetarian spring rolls that Aoki had packed for me.

  “Tell me more about California, Tobias-san. Is your hometown anything like Kyoto?”

  “Huh? Oh, no, not at all. My hometown is just a small college town. It’s nestled in a long valley beneath the shadow of seven mountains that stretch all the way to the ocean. Beyond the town are only vineyards, farms, estuaries, long stretches of beach and rugged coast for miles and miles.”

  She sat up closer, and I could sense her interest in the subject. “Is it near the bigger cities?”

  “No, it is not. Most of the bigger cities are several hours away north and south. Our downtown has only two main streets, and one of the old California missions sits right in the center next to a creek. It’s a huge white adobe building with a broad front and four bells inside arches of the tower.”

  “Mission, like a temple, yes?”

  “Sort of like that, yes. It’s a church, and there is a brick plaza at the front. Sometimes there is an exhibit or musical entertainment taking place. The mission bells ring through the whole city at noon each day.”

  She giggled. “We hear bells here from the temples sometimes, especially at Fushimi where I live.”

  “Yeah, it’s comforting to hear them. I miss hearing mine though. They sound very different from Japanese bells. Anyways, there’s even an old movie theater called the Del Rey. It’s an art deco building with bright neon lights and a beautiful, cavernous interior with hand painted walls and three hundred seats.”

  “I wish I could see it.”

  I smiled. “Maybe one day you will. It would only be fair for me to play tour guide for you after what you’ve done for me.”

  I saw the image of each place sprout quiet questions in her eyes as I described them. She frowned, gazing at me. “You must be very homesick. I know I would be.”

  “Yeah, I guess I am. But there’s a lot of Kyoto to see, Michiko. I suppose that’s enough to take my mind off it.”

  “Well, I should show you around then.” She patted my hand.

  I smiled and took a bite of my apple. “What about you, Michiko? What was it like to grow up here in Kyoto, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Well, I didn’t grow up here, but I would say Kyoto is a liquid city, Tobias-san. Everywhere you go there is water flowing ceaselessly from the hills and down along canals into the river through the heart of town.

  Downtown is full of trendy stores, restaurants and tall buildings. I’d hesitate to call it cosmopolitan because it’s not close to places like Tokyo, but it is very different from everything that surrounds it.

  The neighborhoods and streets become quieter as you get further away. Eventually, you are in the hills wher
e there are many temples and beautiful gardens, most of them very famous and very old.

  It lends a sense of timelessness, I think, that ties us from the present to the past. After all, this was the ancient capital and you can find remnants of that past everywhere. Day and night, past and present meet. The city is alive, busy and humming.

  There is always something to do! Chikako and I get dressed up in our kimonos, and we go to festivals. We eat good food. We dance and we join in with everyone having fun.”

  “Sounds like it. I have to admit, though, it’s different than I expected.”

  “You thought we only had wooden houses,” she asked laughing.

  “Well, part of me did, yes. I’d wanted to see places like Tokyo when I read about them, but I think I’d like the quieter spaces than those, Michiko.”

  “Kyoto is nothing like Tokyo, Tobias-san, but they will both challenge your perception for the best. There’s one area called Nishiki Market which is Kyoto’s grocery. Every kind of Japanese food can be found there along with other goods and wares from knives to comic books. It’s a very colorful and eclectic collection of everything about Japan. I think you’d like it!”

  “It sounds awesome!”

  “It is! Why don’t I treat you to a tour tonight before you go home? I know a wonderful noodle stand with the best ramen you’ve ever tasted.”

  “That sounds good. Count me in.”

  School’s end made me anxious as I waited for Michiko just outside the front gate. It seemed like an age before she came out with Chikako beside her. “Are you ready, Tobias-san?”

  “I think so!”

  We boarded a train and took it back into Kyoto proper, then got off at a busy area that seemed more like a mall than an underground train station. Ascending to street level, the three of us emerged near a narrow alleyway with a roof overhead to protect it from the elements. The place had shops lining the walkway, and it was crowded with hundreds of people even though it probably couldn’t hold four people abreast.

  “There it is, Tobias-san.”

  I gulped, feeling my fear of crowded spaces suddenly return. “Through there?”