Come Back to Me

Chapter 1

Watanuki sat on the floor of the wooden back porch of his fortune-telling/wish-granting shop. It had been a slow day. His long legs were bent at the knee as he looked out into the back yard. The sky was gray and the wind had picked up. He had thought a breeze would ease the humidity, but the it just pushed it closer to his skin. His yukata clung to his body.

In the cloudy sky, there was a gentle but ominous murmuring of thunder. Looking up, he said to himself, "The rains haven't come, and yet there is a customer."

He couldn't see anyone, but he knew there was a someone lingering around the shop. That wasn't unusual. It had to be a customer, perhaps a shy one. What was unusual was the uneasy feeling he had.

He felt a tug on his hem. It was the round black creature with the big floppy ears."Mokona wants plum wine. To watch the rain!"

Watanuki bent down to look at him. "You don't need wine to enjoy the rain."

"Who said anything about enjoy? Mokona is going to help you."

"Rain watching is hard work," said a deep voice. "Get me some plum wine too." Watanuki turned to see the long tall frame of Shizuka Doumeki, a handsome young man leaning on the doorframe. He carried parcels in his arms.

The young shopkeeper's heartbeat sped up. He tried to ignore it. Why should he get rattled about an acquaintance he had known five years? 

"Doumeki? Did you let yourself in through the back door again? I've told you a dozen times: come through the front door!"

"But its raining. If I go back around, I'll track in mud."

"Arrgh! You are so difficult."

Two children in maid's outfits - Maru and Moro - came outside and hugged the arrival. "Doumeki!" they cried happily in unison.

"Stop hanging all over him," grumbled Watanuki. "You'll only encourage him." Domeki shoved a white paper bag at him. Suddenly the humidity seemed unbearable. Watanuki got up and said, "I'm starting dinner."

He walked down the hall to the kitchen and started pulling all the ingredients out of the supermarket parcels. With the variety of food Doumeki had brought, it would definitely be hiyashi chuka. The traditional cold noodle dish with a wide variety of cold toppings would have lots of vitamins to revive vigor depleted by the heat.

He  tugged his kerchief on his head and tied his apron in the back. He lined up his cutting utensils. "There." He oiled a skillet and put it on the stove. While it heated, he whisked together egg crepe mix. and  sliced the tomatoes and the Japanese cucumbers. Soba noodles chilled in the icebox.

Just as he removed the last crepe from the skillet, there came a loud clap of thunder. Watanuki glanced through the little kitchen window over the sink.  It had become dark.

There was a face at the window, looking at him.

It was Yuuko.

The powerful space-time witch who had taught him everything she knew.

Who had died more than three years ago.

"Aaahh!" He fell backwards to the floor, landing flat on his back with a loud smack. The heavy iron skillet crashed to the floor.

The two little maid girls and Doumeki came running in to the kitchen. "Daijoubu ?" Each child took an arm and strained to pull him up.

"Euhhhhh! Omoi ! "

Doumeki stepped forward to reach for him, expecting Watanuku to snap out of it and push him away. But the fortune shop owner sat staring at the window, his mouth open.

Doumeki lifted him up. Only when on his feet did he recover. "I - I saw -"

"You saw what?"

Everyone looked at him expectantly. "Never mind. Maru and Moru, please carry these."

"Haiiiii ! " The pink-haired girl and the blue-haired boy took the plate of crepes, and the bowl of soba noodles topped with seafood. Watanuku grabbed a bottle of plum wine, and Domeki carried the  bowls.

Everyone ate together, watching the rain come down steadily. The humidity was gone at last, washed away by the deluge. Watanuki felt a sudden chill in the air and shivered. His eyes met his friend's languid ones.

Watanuki suddenly became very interested in the wine. "Is this plum wine from Kohane's obasan ?"

"Uh-huh," affirmed the grocery-and-homemade-wine-bringer.

"It's delicious."

"I'll be sure to tell her. By the way, the moon tonight will either be very beautiful, or unseen," remarked Doumeki.

Maru and Moru beamed at Doumeki.  "Yes! It will be beautiful," said Maru, "washed new and shiny by the rain."

"No! it will be hidden by the rainclouds," said Moru. The two bickered back and forth about which it would be.

"It will be beautiful," said the visiting guest. His two little fans accepted his answer and stopped arguing right away.

Watanuki was quiet and picked at his food. Something had spooked him, thought Doumeki. And Watanuki didn't get spooked. He had faced many frightening things with an equilibrium he inhereited from Yuuko, who had run the fortune shop before her surprising and sudden death. Faced them also with a bravery all his own.

The only thing that could have Watanuki so shook would be Yuuko. Watanuki had not taken her death well. She and he, had been very close, master and apprentice. But Yuuko had been dead for years.

It couldn't be her, thought Doumeki. Could it?

TO BE CONTINUED

Glossary of Japanese language

soba - traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles, usually served cold

Omoi - heavy

Daijoubu? - Are you all right?

Hai ! - Yes, sir/ma'am!