"Hey, Tsu-chan, where are you going?"

No response. Eitsu continued to trot cheerfully behind the silent dancer without taking it personally.

Ayame was very offended. By Eitsu. "Tsubaki-dono, who is this rude boy? Did you fall for his pretty looks? Don't be fooled! Anyway, he's kind of angular, skinny, and he's shorter than you, he's not really so pretty after all! There are better..." She rambled on in this manner for a while without either Eitsu or Tsubaki responding. 

At last, Tsubaki ran out of energy. In her tiredness, she tripped not long after they left Yuhai. Eitsu caught her. 

"Tell me where you're going," she said, picking Tsubaki up easily.  The scene was a little funny, given their height differences, but she showed no strain. Ayame looked scandalised.

"Tsubaki-dono! This... this... WHO IS THIS PERSON?"

"... my pet," Tsubaki retorted.

"Her pet~" Eitsu echoed.

Ayame stared with her mouth open. "Tsu- Tsubaki-dono... You were that kind of person?!"

"And you-" Tsubaki flicked Eitsu's forehead. Eitsu could only flinch since her hands were full. "I thought you were going after Rei."

"Are you coming with me?"

"No."

"Then I don't wanna~"

Another flick. Eitsu's eyes watered, but she didn't repent.

Tsuabki sighed. "I'm tired."

"Then let's find somewhere to rest."

"I'm most tired of you."

"... sorry about that."

"What... what is your relationship really?" Ayame begged, her eyes spinning with confusion.

"Be respectful," Tsubaki ordered.

"Aw, Tsu-chan-"

"You don't know what this weirdo will do to a silly little girl like you when she's in the mood."

"..."

How does such an exquisite beauty manage to offend everyone present with a single sentence?

Eitsu plodded along meekly until they found a soft patch of grass where Tsubaki could sit and have her foot examined. It turned out she had twisted it during the fight with Rei, but stubbornly said nothing at the time. Now her ankle was swollen and hot. The medicinal tea she had drunk earlier had helped to boost her energy a little, but all the walking had hurt the foot further.

Ayame pushed Eitsu to once side and fussed over the injured limb, anxiously pulling out the herbs that Jyun Jik Sun had given them and examining them one by one. "What is this one? This one smells weird, is it even safe? And this...?"

Eitsu slid past and picked up Tsubaki's delicate foot. The owner of the foot narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Ayame flapped about in panic but didn't dare to push Eitsu away again, as Tsubaki might be hurt even more.

"I seem to remember..." Eitsu said, looking at the foot thoughtfully, "... that I had a certain power..."

Tsubaki continued to frown, but then a sudden realisation came to her. "Wait... you're not...!"

Eitsu licked her ankle.

Tsubaki froze.

Ayame screamed.

The ankle healed.

In the next instant, both Ayame and Tsubaki had seized Eitsu by the collar of her robe with expressions of murder. She lifted her hands placatingly. "Hey, hey, I fixed it, didn't I?"

"This man!"

Eitsu looked amused. "I'm female, actually."

Ayame seemed to have turned to stone and was slowly crumbling away. Eitsu prodded her shoulder and received no response.

"Wow, she's like a dousojin (1)... Tsu-chan, did you really give away all your belongings?" She was looking at the camellia hairpin in Ayame's little hairbun.

"Can you not see I am still wearing clothing?"

Eitsu flopped dramatically onto Tsubaki's shoulder, who pushed her face away, only withdrawing her hand when the kaibyou licked the palm.

"You!"

"I'm sorry I burnt the fur."

"..."

Eitsu's hands tightened on the box she was carrying. Within the shattered cedarwood, her past lives murmured to her. "Do you.. want some of the fur from these?"

".. no."

"Not the same, huh?"

Ayame seemed to be recovering from her shock in the seriousness of the current conversation. She sat down suddenly, but without saying a word.

Tsubaki: "What will you do with them?"

"I think you're right. I'll probably regain my memories if I examine them carefully."

"When will you look?"

"I... I don't know."

Tsubaki hmphed, but she patted Eitsu's head. "Just have a look already. It won't get any easier. What?" she added, as she realised Eitsu was looking at her.

"Thank you."

"Shut up and get on with it."

"Your tone doesn't match your face."

"Your face is really annoying to me but I don't make any comments about it."

"My heart hurts."

"I'll make your head hurt more in a moment."

Eitsu opened the box, tightened her jaw, and lifted the first pelt out. The silky golden fur shimmered in the sunlight. She had been a big cat in her first life.

"There are more than three lives in here, Tsu-chan."

Tsubaki didn't respond. She had closed her eyes, as if she were sleeping.

"I'm sorry."

"Do you even know what you're sorry for?"

"I will soon." Eitsu closed her eyes, and pitched forwards into the memories of her first life.

*

Three claps rang out.

A figure bowed three times.

"Eitsubyou no Mikoto (2), give me luck in the upcoming official's recruitment contest."

"Okami (3) Eitsubyou, I wish for good fortune in my business."

"Omanekineko-sama (4), I've been having rotten luck recently. Please help me!"

The golden cat watched lazily from where she sat on the altar, watching people come and go, leaving offerings and prayers. For a thousand years, she had grown from a simple animal to a kami of luck, and now the desperate and the greedy came to worship.

There was one child who regularly came to visit. An orphan who wore cast-off clothing and a perpetually exasperated expression. At first, Eitsu thought she was a boy, but she was quickly disabused of that idea.

"I'm a girl," the child said, rolling her eyes as if it were obvious.

"You're so scruffy and skinny though. How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And still so skinny? Eat some of the offerings or people will think you're a twelve year-old boy for the rest of your life."

"That's fine."

"Eat, brat."

"Yes, 'Tennai-sama'," she responded sarcastically, but she stuffed her face with the food that had been left.

With nowhere else to go, the girl hung around the small shrine tidying and running errands. She would brush Eitsu's fur every day.

"Tennai-sama, may I keep this?"

"My fur?"

The child gave her a look that said ' what else could I mean?' "That's right, Tennai-sama."

"... what's your name again, kid?"

"I don't have one, Tennai-sama."

"Hmph. Yeah, keep the fur, I don't need it."

"Thank you, Tennai-sama." She gave gratitude, but her facial expression was unimpressed. Eitsu watched her with amusement through narrowed eyes. This kid carried on like an old man weary of life, and she had a sharp tongue too. That title she had given Eitsu was just too funny with the blatant tone of disrespect that came with it. It was fun to watch.

"Tennai-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Can I come back tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"And the day after that?"

"As long as you like."

"Then... maybe I'll just leave now."

"And go where?"

"Anywhere I don't have to be under the paw of a lazy cat."

The next day, she was nowhere to be found.

Eitsu was a little concerned. This child... well, at fifteen she would be considered an adult, would probably already have married if her family life had continued as normal, but for an ancient yokai like Eitsu, that number of years meant nothing.

In any case, the child had been sleeping behind the altar for the past few months. Where was she?

Eitsu began to search.

It didn't take her long. 

"Sometimes, I think you're more like a cat than I am," she said, crouching to look at the girl hidden under some shrubs. The girl's breathing was shallow and laboured.

"When did this happen?"

The girl's dark eyes flickered up at Eitsu, then closed. She didn't have the strength to answer. She couldn't even open her eyes when she felt someone pull her out from underneath the flowering shrubs. The stranger's hands were strong and warm, and when they held her closely, there was a scent of incense and... a little bit of fish?

"You little brat, acting so tough but falling over at the slightest illness. What am I going to do with you?"

The person, strangely, sniffed the girl all over.

"You haven't much time left, little brat... Ah, I can't keep calling you that. What about this? These red flowers here are bold just like you. So let me give you this - a name, and a lifetime's worth of luck. I've got enough to go around. After all, I'll have eight more after this.

"So, Tsubaki-chan, don't look back, and live well. I hope you go out into the world and become someone. Maybe one day we will meet again, but the world is large, so don't look too hard, okay?"

The pain was lessening, the dullness that clouded her mind and body dissipating like fog under the sun. Tsubaki opened her eyes to see the bright red camellia flowers above her, and when she turned her head, the body of a beautiful golden cat lay peacefully in the sun, as if she had just gone for a nap.

She picked the cat's body up. It was surprisingly heavy.

"I... I'll find you. I'll become someone... so... Come and find me too. It can't... Of course I'll find you. Won't I have the best luck from now on? Eitsu... Eitsubyou-sama, you really are... I'll look for you every day for the rest of my life."

*

For a moment, everything was dark. And then, someone spoke in a small, small voice.

"Thank you... thank you."

Eitsu's heart jumped with surprise. This memory was old, so very old, but the person trembling before her was clear in her mind. White hair, lank and damaged, and burnt hands clutching burnt shoulders.

"Thank you..."

*

It was Eitsu's turn to open her eyes and find someone lying next to her.

The woman was so still, but the slight rise and fall of her stomach showed she was alive. She too opened her eyes. Light brown met dark over the soft grass.

Tsubaki closed her eyes again. "I hope you aren't going to try asking for a lot of favours now that you remember what happened."

"Of course I will."

"Hmph."

"You really do have fantastic luck... brat."

"... well of course. The great goddess Eitsubyou no Mikoto gave it to me. How could I not?"

"Thanks for finding me."

"It was pure selfishness."

"Then thank you for being selfish... What did you do with my body?"

Tsubaki opened her eyes and sat up. Eitsu followed suit, and noticed that Ayame seemed to have fallen asleep with her head on her knees.

"I... I couldn't bury you. I took you back to the altar and left you there. I fell asleep under the altar, like usual, but when I woke in the morning, you were gone."

"So someone took my body then... seems coincidental. Did someone just happen to come by and realise they could run off with the corpse of a kami? But your sickness that day was so sudden..."

"No idea. It came suddenly and it went suddenly and I never did know what it was." Tsubaki glanced down at the pelt in Eitsu's hands. "What will you do now?"

"I'll keep this for now. It may be useful in the future. Seeing how Rei reacted when I burn that random collection of my fur, it'll be interesting to see his response if I threaten to set fire to one of these."

"Are you going to look at the others yet?"

"Not yet, I'm sleepy."

"As always."

"Tsubaki-san... Did you live well, afterwards?"

"Of course I did. Your lucky blessing is the reason why I'm famous and rich now."

Eitsu sighed into the gathering dusk. "... Good. I'm glad."

---

Notes:

(1) 道祖神 (dousojin) - protective stone statues found along roadsides.

(2) 永津猫の尊  (Eitsubyou no mikoto) - Eitsu meaning 'eternal haven', byou being one way of reading the kanji for 'cat', no being a possessive particle, and mikoto meaning 'noble/precious' and is a common title given Japanese deities. So all together, 'Noble cat giving eternal haven'.

(3) 大神 (okami) - 'great god'

(4) お招き猫 (omanekineko) - O- is a prefix added to words to express respect, and a manekineko is a lucky cat, the type usually seen in shops with a waving paw.