Gin scrubbed herself and washed her hair three times before sinking into the luxurious warm water of the women’s common tub. I'll be able to do this every day when I sell incense, she thought. The warm water reminded her of the hot spring near Big Fork where…she pushed all those thoughts out of her mind and looked around.
Human women of The Capital soaked in groups. Mothers and daughters, sisters, matriarchs and their entire female line. A wave of loneliness swept over Gin. Her Kitsune were dead. That sad day, she and Ichiro had walked to a neighboring human village and begged them to help perform the funeral rites. They had to burn all their possessions except the sandals and kimono they wore so the disease wouldn’t spread. The last of their lives burned on that pyre, and Gin hadn’t been right since.
The Kitsune in The Capital were nothing like Big Fork. No Kitsune would take them in, even in exchange for work. Only one old man pointed them to the granary where they lived now. Gin was terrified of being alone, so Ichiro had stayed with her all through the spring and summer. They’d mostly lived on four legs. Gin preferred that to talking or crying constantly. Plus hunting took so much concentration that she didn’t hear the awful laughter.
But she was finally ready to get back out. It wasn’t right to keep Ichiro cooped up with her. First the two of them went out together, then just a few days ago, Ichiro left her alone part of the day and she didn’t panic.
Things are finally turning around! Yesterday at the market proves I can trick humans and earn money. I won’t be a burden to Ichiro anymore. For some reason, there was quite a crowd around her as she sold “rice.” When she sold a bag, they’d all clapped. Humans had strange shopping customs, but at least they know how to take a proper bath! I can hear the wood burning beneath us.
While she was lost in thought, two girls sat on either side of her. Gin pulled the towel tighter around her.
"Oh my, they'll let anyone in this bathhouse these days," said the girl on her right. Both girls laughed. Gin looked around but no one was paying the three of them any attention.
"As a matter of fact, I am Gin and I come from a long line of incense sellers," she said proudly. My voice didn’t shake at all!
"You are not," the girl on her right said incredulously. "I doubt your family has ever even owned incense." Again the two girls laughed.
This infuriating Gin. "I have some samples with me, but you can't afford it," she snapped at them.
“What a hick you are! Listen to that accent, Little Sister. The incense seller floated in on the river. Whoops, don’t let it all get wet!” The girl on the right splashed Gin’s face. Gin heard the same horrible laughter she heard the day her village died and jumped involuntarily.
The two girls laughed even louder. “Her incense is all wet, and she’s scared of water. What’s wrong, never had a bath before?” The older sister sneered. When other women glanced at the trio, they quieted down.
“I’m used to bathing in a hot spring, you deaf fool,” Gin snapped. She sank under the water, but could still hear the two girls. Gin stewed on their words so much that she didn’t hear the evil laughter.
Gin realized that humans awful. She knew they were blind at night and half deaf all the time, and couldn’t even see kami, much create illusions. I didn’t realize they were rude like…Shino had been. I hated her, but I cried so hard when I carried her cloth wrapped body to the pyre, because she’d never say another nasty word to me again.
The older girl pulled her up from under the water. “Don’t drown.” She sounded almost concerned. Just like Shino was sometimes.
After Gin dried off and put on her new blue kimono, the older sister walked up to her like she owned the bath house.
"Well, Gin the incense seller, are you going to show me your wares?" She smirked.
"Yes." Gin scooped the small amount of dirt and spoke silently to the dirt’s kami. She held the smell and pink color of cherry blossoms in her mind and pushed the thought into the dirt’s kami. The scent of cherry blossoms came from inside her fist. The kami heard my thoughts!
“Here,” she said triumphantly.
"Oh my, that smells amazing! Little sister, it smells exactly like spring!" Her younger sister oohed and aahed. Kei, Suki, Mei, Ayame, why aren’t you here with me? Why aren’t we exclaiming over something? Why did you have to die like that? Why are these two awful humans alive when Shino is gone?
"How much?" Gin gave her a very reasonable price. The older sister ran to get money and Gin laughed. Humans are so stupid, especially the snotty ones!
I’d give anything to tell Kei about this. She’d laugh and laugh. Just like the time we tricked the human village into thinking it snowed during the summer! Gin wiped her eyes and looked at the money in her hand. Five more of these and she could have another bath! Things are definitely looking up. I can’t wait to tell Ichiro! He’ll be so proud of me.
"There’s a Kitsune in the bath house! He’s pretending to be a girl!" Gin looked around, wondering if Ichiro was being a pervert. Then she realized the older sister was pointing at her. The smell of cherry blossoms was gone. Uh oh, I didn’t concentrate long enough to get away.
“He was right by me and my little sister. Pervert! Then he sold us dirt!” The older sister was crying. Her younger sister stared at Gin in terror. She showed a growing ring of human women her handful of dirt.
The human women glared at Gin. “Get him!”
Gin ran, not even grabbing her sandals by the entrance. “There’s a man on the women’s side! There’s a Kitsune in the bathhouse!” A guard walking a beat heard the commotion and said "You there, stop!"
Gin ran and ran. She asked the kami to hide her, but running made it hard to concentrate. She didn’t know The Capital well enough to lose the guard. She had nowhere else to go, so she ran back to the granary and climbed up nearby tree. Gin crouched down onto four legs carefully and bit her kimono so it wouldn’t fall. She sat motionless, relying on the leaves to hide her because she was too mentally and physically exhausted to kami-hide.
She didn’t see or smell Ichiro outside. If he was inside, he would have heard her climbing the tree, not to mention the loud footsteps of the persistent guard who followed her.
The guard went into the granary.
——
Ichiro practiced his lines on the way to the bath house.
“Is there a girl named Gin here? Please tell her Ichiro is here.” He smiled at the matron in charge of the women’s side as he paid for his bath. There were two other women working. One left, the other grabbed a wash pail, soap, and a towel.
“Gin? We had some trouble earlier with a Gin," the matron frowned. Wash pail woman whispered something into the matron’s ear. Here eyes were wide.
"Ma'am, did something happen to my sister? Please tell me." Did she panic around all these humans? Did she get sick?
“Um," the matron stammered. Her eyes looked everywhere but at him. Ichiro saw the two guards on either side on him, but it was too late. They grabbed his arms. "Gin the Kitsune! You’re back I see. You are under arrest."
Pic By Keven Law - originally posted to Flickr as Whispering I love you...:O)), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4730047