Shaman King: Story of Tsuki Kasumi

Episode 2

"You are too young to go out."

"Father, please, I'll be careful, I promise!" I begged.

"I think she can go if you let Murel or Gal go with her. Or maybe both can go. Even without you, they are able to protect her. And importantly, who do you think would hurt a child in this village? Moreover, we all know each other," Shizuka said, my grandmother.

"Mother," started Chise, my mum, "You're not helping us."

"I'm not trying to help you, but my granddaughter. At her age, we went out normally, and Kasumi only wants to go on that meadow in the middle of the forest. No one goes there because everybody thinks it's cursed and haunted. But shamans aren't bothered with this, are they?" grandma laughed, "She will be alright, you'll see."

My father and mother looked at each other, and they only sighed. After all this, they agreed and let me go out with their guardian spirits called Gal and his sister Murel.

It was ten years ago when they met. Both of them were from different parts of Japan. My father was a newbie shaman, and he decided to travel across Japan, and my mother went on a trip with her friend to the bamboo forest in Kyoto. They met there and found their guardian allies. They were young river spirits, only about two hundred years old, which is not much. My father told me how grandpa Masao and grandma Shizuka didn't want to accept him because he wasn't a shaman from a strong shamanic family. But in the end, they accepted him, because my parents loved each other. My grandpa is a man who respects traditions and rules, but he always says: Heart is always stronger.

In the afternoon, I went out with both spirits as my guardians. We went to a specific meadow, which lied in the middle of a deciduous forest. This meadow is different because a big beautiful sakura grows in the middle. People from the village believe that this place is cursed because sakura trees don't grow here. My father took me there once. I immediately fell in love with this place, and I begged to go there again, but my father was always busy. But today, after a long time, I can finally go there.

We arrived at the frontiers of the forest.

"There is no one here, Kasumi-sama. We can go," said Gal, father's guardian spirit.

"She is a child, brother. Why are you calling her Kasumi-sama?" said Murel, mother's guardian spirit, "She prefers Kasumi-chan. Am I right, Kasumi-chan?" she smiled.

"I don't care. You can call me however you want," I laughed and went into the forest.

The deeper we went, the darker it got in the woods, but even so, I could still see where I was stepping. The forest was quiet, not a living soul. The wind played in the treetops, scattering the leaves in all directions. I took a deep breath and stopped for a moment to look at the treetops, where I saw a piece of the sky through the cracks. Today was beautiful warm weather. It wasn't hot at all, so it was safe to be outside. After a few minutes, I saw the end of the border between the forest and the meadow. I ran to the edge of the woods.

"Kasumi-sama! Slow down!" said Gal. He took his sister's hand and ran to me. I came on the meadow and looked around me. The trees had all shades of green, from light to dark. I could see all kinds of flowers around me. Roes grazed nearby. When they saw me, they ran away.

"What a shame. We could have some company," I said and turn around to the middle of the meadow where the big sakura grew. It was so pretty, full of pink blossoms.

I wanted to go there when Murel stopped me: "Kasumi-chan, someone is here." Gal stood in front of us to protect us.

"If anything happens, take Kasumi and run home."