The old woman offered for Suzume to stay the night. Since Suzume was not sure what else to do, she agreed. The hut was small and the old woman did not have much in the way of bedding. She gave Suzume some blankets and a place by the fire. After sleeping on the ground for weeks, even the blanket and a warm spot felt like a luxury.

She curled up in a ball beneath the blankets. She emptied her mind of thoughts of Kaito’s strange behavior and let sleep claim her.  She had just closed her eyes when something soft brushed against her face. Suzume’s eyes flew open. She peered up through the darkness to see Kaito leaning over her. He was grinning and his white smile stood out in the darkness of the room. She shot up and he just managed to dodge her head. She stared at him wide eyed more than a little disturbed to find him watching her sleep. Was he stroking my face? She touched her cheek. What kind of freak watches someone sleep?

“You disappeared,” Kaito said in a stage whisper.

Suzume’s back was towards the old woman. The old woman snorted in her sleep but did not seem to be disturbed by their late night visitor.

“What are you doing here?” Suzume hissed.  Her voice was louder than she intended and she froze, afraid she would wake her host. She glanced over at the old woman who rolled over in her sleep but did not awaken. Good thing she’s a heavy sleeper, I don’t know how I would explain this... Suzume eyed Kaito suspiciously.

“I came looking for you. I was worried.” He said and reached out to brush a stray hair away from her face. The touch of his fingertips against her bare skin sent a chill down her spine. He’s gentle when he wants to be. She shook her head. It’s the spell, don’t let it fool you, this is not the real Kaito.

“Stop doing that,” She slapped his hand away.

The sad puppy expression crossed his face and Suzume had to chide herself for feeling guilty for it. All I need to do is figure out how to break the spell, then he’ll go back to his annoying self once again. I never would have imagined I would be willing trying to get Kaito back to normal.

“Are you still upset about learning that you’re Kauze’s reincarnation?” Kaito crept closer to her on his knees. His hand brushed against hers as he took a seat beside her.

She recoiled and sat back on her knees. He’s a crafty one, I’m going to have to keep an eye on him or he may try and seduce me again.

“I am not her.” She snarled to avoid the uncomfortable feelings his close proximity elicited.  “You’re under some kind of spell that’s making you sappy and emotional.”

He shook his head. “No, this is how I really feel.” He pressed his hand to his chest to emphasize his point. His fingers were long and elegant and she thought about the way they brushed her face or pushed her hair behind her ears.

Wow. Get a hold of yourself. This has to be an effect of the spell. It’s making me crazy.

She slapped her cheeks. It hurt more than it helped her focus. Kaito was looking at her with a bemused expression once more. Now Suzume shook her head. What am I doing? I have no idea how to break this spell.

“You should rest, I’ll keep watch until morning,” he said.

She opened her mouth to argue but talking to him in this condition was like arguing with a wall. Despite that, her inherit stubborn nature kept her from seeing reason even if it was staring at her in the face.

“Then keep watch outside, I can’t sleep with you leering at me all night.”

He laughed and it filled her stomach with a fluttering feeling. Come on, body, don’t start betraying me now.

“I’m not letting you from my sight. Remember the spider? I can’t risk losing you now that I’ve found you.”

Suzume resisted the urge to groan aloud. Talk about sappy...

“What am I supposed to tell her then?” Suzume jammed her thumb in the direction of the old woman who was sleeping across the fire pit from her. Despite the increasing volume of their voices she had not stirred.

He shrugged and there was that familiar mischievous gleam in his eye. “Not my problem.”

Suzume glared at him. “You’re really not going to leave are you?”

He grinned. “Nope.”

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. They sat for several moments, just staring at one another waiting for the other to crack. After about twenty minutes of this, Suzume felt her eyes growing heavy and her head drooping forward. It was getting increasingly harder to stay awake. I can’t fall asleep with him here. How do I know he’s not playing some kind of trick on me and he’s just waiting for my guard to be down. Her head drooped forward again and she snapped back up, shaking her head and glaring at Kaito who was grinning at her.

“Fine.” She announced. “Be a creep and watch me as I sleep.” She lay down and rolled over to face the fire.

After several checks over her shoulder and a lot of restless shifting, Suzume managed to fall back asleep. She awoke to the smell of frying fish and sunlight streaming through the door flaps that led into the hut. Suzume sat up, stretched, and yawned. The old woman was humming that same tune again. It was starting to grow on Suzume.

As Suzume rubbed the sleep out of her eye, she looked for Kaito. She expected to see Kaito watching over her, waiting with bowl of rice to force feed her.

“Sleep well?” the old woman asked. She turned the fish over the flame.

Suzume sat up and pushed her thick hair over her shoulder. “Well enough.” She paused looking around for Kaito once more. “Anything interesting happen this morning?” I would think she would scream or something if she found Kaito standing over me as I slept.

The old woman was poking at the fish with a long chopsticks checking if it was done. “Just an average morning,” She smiled her gaped tooth smile at Suzume once more.

Suzume frowned. Where did he go now? He’s slipperier than an eel.

“Any plans for your day?” The old woman came over to Suzume with the fish on a platter and a bowl of rice to accompany it.

Suzume looked down at the fish and the rice. He was so adamant about not being parted from me and yet he runs away at the first opportunity.  She picked up the chopsticks the old woman had laid over the bowl and poked at her fish with it. She broke off a piece and chased it around her plate. How am I going to break this spell? I’m not even sure how it happened. We were just standing by the shrine when he changed...

“Nothing in particular, I may head back onto the road.” Suzume replied evasively. Or back to the shrine since that seems to be my only lead at this point.  

“Well, don’t hurry away on my account. I was considering heading to the shrine again today. You could join me if you don’t have plans. It’s good to offer prayers to the gods before beginning a journey.”

Well that’s convenient. Maybe I can get more information about the shrine if we go together.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Suzume said with feigned nonchalance. The old woman seemed to know something about that shrine, maybe if she knew more about the god the villagers worship. Then something the old woman had said the night before occurred to her.

“Last night, you said that the shrine grants wishes.”

The old woman was chewing when Suzume asked the question. She had to wait for her to finish before she answered. Suzume never patient continued on without waiting for a reply.

“Have you ever known someone to have their wish granted... or wishes?” She thought of the sandals and the dumpling.

The woman swallowed. “My grandfather said he got this house when he wished for it from the shrine but I’m not sure if that wasn’t a story he just liked to tell.” She smiled and her eyes wrinkled as she did so. “Do you have a wish you want granted? Perhaps there’s a young man you are fond of.”

Suzume had to restrain herself from snorting. “No, nothing like that.” She held up her hands. “I’m just interested in old customs is all,” she lied.

The old woman winked and said no more. They finished their meal and the old woman went to a small pen out back to feed her chickens before they headed back to the temple. Suzume was pacing the inside of the hut as she waited. She thought Kaito would come back but he hadn’t and she was getting worried. The last time he had disappeared, she was trapped inside her own nightmare. Please, just no spiders this time.

The woman came in from her chores and they finally left for the shrine.  As they travelled, Suzume tried to open up her spiritual power and see if she could sense anything. As usual it produced no results.

The old woman was still humming that tune she had been humming before. It finally got Suzume’s attention and she asked her about it.

“What’s that song you’re singing?” Suzume asked.

“Oh, just an old tune. I don’t even remember the words anymore. I think it used to be something they sang at festivals when I was a girl. It’s been so long that all I remember is the tune.” She smiled and Suzume smiled back. This woman has practically nothing but she’s very content.

“Hmm.” Suzume replied not sure what else to say. They arrived at the shrine and the old woman went inside to offer her prayers. Suzume hung back and examined the bench where she had sat and the building itself. Nothing was unusual about it. It looked like a regular shrine.

“There you are, beautiful,” Kaito said but she couldn’t see him.

She spun around in circles looking for him but he had made himself invisible.

He laughed somewhere behind her and she turned in that direction. “That’s not fair! You can turn yourself invisible... did you use this power at the hot spring to peep on me?”

“I’m up here,” he said.

Suzume tilted her head back and saw Kaito squatting on the roof of the shrine with that same mischievous smirk in place. Maybe he’s back to normal?

“What’s are you doing up there? I thought you said you did not want to leave my side.” Suzume asked. It was silly to be upset over him disappearing but her emotions had been all across the spectrum as of late so she allowed herself the indulgence.

“I sensed something happening at the shrine and I went to investigate.” He smirked. “ She’s not going to like what she sees.”

Suzume’s didn’t like the look in his eye. The mischievous grin coupled with the compliments were too weird.

“What’s inside the shrine...?” She asked slowly.

“It’s more like what isn’t there.”

Suzume frowned but took the bait. She had a bad feeling about his taunting but decided to take the risk. Suzume stepped inside the shrine the old woman was kneeling on the floor.

She turned to look at Suzume as she entered her face was pale. “I don’t know...” She trailed off and turned back to look at the place where the idle had once been. It was gone and in its place a single acorn remained.

The god of the forest was missing.