Sushi, Sake, and Tanuki: A Lost Gem 2

The wind was with me today. Since I was flying in my raven form, I was especially glad for this. I had made this raven form have better eyesight than an eagle's and as good of a sense of smell as a wolf. The real wolf, or half-wolf, was running on the ground and looking for Yamaka.


I landed on the half-wolf's shoulder when he stopped to rest.


"Jirou," I said. "You can't stop now. We are so close to finding her."


He looked at me angrily and I was glad that his head was human. Being next to wolf fangs wasn't something I wanted right now. Especially when I was in raven form.


"You are just impatient to get Hijunaki's favor again." Jirou said and flicked me off his shoulder. I spun around in the air for a few seconds before righting myself and then landed on a branch. "But if we don't do this correctly then you won't gain his favor. Also, the possibility of losing your life will be greater."


I nodded. I wanted to argue with him but that wouldn't be wise. Jirou was one of my only defenders. Well, my only defender.


"Can't you communicate to the spirits, Jirou?" I asked.


"They don't liked to be disturbed for unimportant matters." He replied. "And no matter what the situation is for us, it won't always matter to them."


"I'm already hated by a goddess, why not be hated by a few spirits?"


"You're not the one who will speak to them."


"Can't you promise them something of mine? Like my life after death?"


Jirou thought for a moment. "It would be odd, but it might work."


I would've smiled, if ravens could smile, and watched him. The words that came out of his mouth were beautiful and dark. He contacted the spirits of all the elements. A moment of silence followed what can only be described as a song. Then Jirou went into spasms of pain as he heard what the spirits had replied.


Jirou had described the voices of spirits as hard to handle and he wasn't yet trained enough to control his pain. I wanted to help him, but there was nothing I could do. So I tighted my grip on the branch and waited.


In a split second he was up and running. I managed to start flying after him before he managed to get out of my view. When he finally stopped, I realized this mission wouldn't earn me Hijunaki's favor. It was impossible now. I landed on the ground and shifted to my main male human form.


My human nose, unfortunately, was still able to smell well enough. Luckily, though, the body wasn't that decayed. But how it had been torn when something had eaten it was not pretty. Not even standable or appetizing. Well, I shouldn't call the corpse an it as it was a she. And her name was Yamaka.