Spirited Away : A Voice of Healing

Chapter 10: The Purification Ritual- Part Two

Her sore and dirty socked feet finally makes it to the barrier, she lets herself catch her breath as she bends over the bucket. Hearing the childrens gasps, she looks up at the two spirit kids that were still conscious, and immediately looks over their condition. The boy still looked relatively okay compared to the other three, though he has definitely lost more colour to his complexion and was looking more tired.

The young girl however has gotten worse, it looked like it was taking everything in her willpower to stand on her own two feet. She then looks at the other two unconscious boys, who are still right where she left them, taking up the space in the far corners of the barrier. The eldest is looking almost dead in appearance, and the youngest boy was still in a similar state she left him in, or so it seems.

"M-miss Miko-chan! You're back!!" the lone conscious boy shouts at her, in desperate relief.

"Thank goodness...you really came back..." says the young girl weakly. She huffs for breath a few more times before finally responding.

"Of course I came back, I said I was going to help you didn't I? What kind of Shrine Maiden would I be if I cannot do my duty...now quickly sit back in your corners and lets get this miasma off of you" she states determinedly as she lugs the bucket of potent water into the barrier, immediately heading towards the eldest and more severe child first, hopefully he can drink it despite his terrible condition.

She kneels down beside the now white haired boy, then immediately begins to take out the floating wooden cup that Kamaji had let her borrow. Her hands were slightly shaking, despite trying her damn hardest to not let the negative energy taint her as well. Her blank pure slate, must remain untainted for this ritual to be affective at it's fullest, her years of emotional and spiritual training being her saving grace. With the filled cup she the begins pouring the herbed concoction over the boys body, a faint sizzling sound can be heard as the spiritually enhanced water makes contact with the severe blights that infected the childs pale-brown skin.

The boy begins to whimper in his unconciousness, too tired to even cry out. She feels for the boy, it probably feels like rubbing salt into a wound, but alas she keeps going because it meant that the water is working. After using over two full cups to drench the boys skin and clothes, she then dips the cup back in the water and then she carefully lifts his head with one hand whilst another brought the cup to his lips.

"M-miss Miko-chan?? What is that you're giving him? it looks like it hurts..." the boy in the corner behind her asks, seemingly a little more than worried.

"Don't worry, it may sting but that just means its working, this is special herbed water that has been enhanced with my spiritual energy, it will help ease and heal miasma from inside of your bodies and should help heal the blights that covers your skin. Sorry, I know it will be painful but its necassary" she explains to the boy, as she try's to make sure the unconscious spirit doesn't choke on the water that she is forcing down his throat, even when he involuntarily coughs. When the cup is finally empty, she carefully lays the boys head down to the ground then opens the jar of salt and wards the boy, creating a line around him.

"Oh...I see...it's okay....just please save him...he's my best friend..." the boy begs shakily.

As she redoes the lid on the jar though not as tight as before, she turns to look at the dark haired boy in order to give him the most reassuring smile that she can muster "I promise you, I will try my best..however his condition is very severe and there are four of you...I can only try my hardest...that's all I can promise...".

She then moves on to the other unconscious boy in the corner next to her and then repeats the method all over again, though this time with a bit more confidence than before. When it was time to have the boy drink the concoction, she looks at the now half empty bucket in worry, there was perhaps even a little less. She really hopes there will be enough, for the young girl will be next and she is not much better than the drenched boy laying at her knees. Thankfully the spirit before her still had the ability to swallow and this time around it was easier to have the boy drink the water, unlike the other boy who had choked multiple times, despite her efforts.