The Fix (Himeko Soryuu)

The Fix (Himeko Soryuu)
Date of Cutscene:	03 September 2023
Location:	Soryuu Shrine, Japan
Synopsis:	CW: Past animal death. An open cat-sket.
Cast of Characters:	Pyrite

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September 3rd, 2013

The temple grounds around the Soryuu Shrine that sat at the middle of the space was host to frantic energy, desperation, and leaking life. Sitting and staring, wondering who she is, while shadows writhed around her hungrily, the ghost of the Soryuu Shrine took note.

A black cat had come slinking into the area and laid himself down just inside the walls. He was hurt. Trailing blood. Obviously dying.

The huffing breaths, cursing, and loud footsteps of a human man coming closer suggested the presence of who the cat was fleeing from.

The cat was too tired, too injured to run anymore. He could barely keep his eyes open as he lay on his side.

The ghost focused on the old man when he came up the steps. He was holding a knife, glistening red in the moonlight.

The man was looking around, vision clearly not as good as either the cat's or the ghost's in the darkness.

Something inside of the ghost girl stirred. Why was the old man trying to kill a poor cat? Scattered pieces of memory. Moments in time. Confetti. He was seeking cat skin for the construction of a 'traditional' shamisen.

A musical instrument. That was it. That was why he was inflicting pain, fear, and imminent death on a defenseless animal.

The ghost didn't like that.

While the old man leaned over trying to peer into the shadows along the wall, the ghost rose from where she sat on the porch-like area in front of the shrine. He wasn't entering the temple grounds themselves fully. He was just leaning over. Like everyone else these days, he was reluctant to step foot near the 'haunted' shrine.

She just needed him to take that one step. Just one.

The old man turned around and peered back down the stone steps leading back to street level, and around at the trees and bushes. He must have realized how stupid this was, how the cat could have gone anywhere. But he also reasoned that the cat was badly injured and couldn't run far. Nervously pacing in front of the gap in the low stone walls that marked the boundary beyond which was solidly the shrine's territory, he wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve.

Finally, the old bald man took that step.

Push. the ghost intoned in her mind, focusing on the man's center mass.

The shadows rushed forwards in response, unseen by the elder, and slamming into him. He was hurled off his feet, flew backwards through the air, and windmilled his arms until he landed on the stone steps and began cartwheeling and rolling down them, and out of the ghost's sight.

She couldn't see him anymore, so he basically didn't exist anymore. The ghost was more focused on the small life, the gradually ebbing heat, that had sought out this place for safety and comfort in his final moments.

Hesitating, an impression of having hurt animals in the past when she tried to touch them, the ghost still kneeled at the cat's side, and reached out her hands gently. She was stronger now than she was then. She lifted the cat into her spectral lap with the shadows surrounding her, and soothed the poor cat as he faded away.

Suddenly, desperately, the ghost didn't want to be alone again. The life leaking out... The soul she had already touched...

She lifted the spirit of the house cat out of its body. The body went cold and still, but in Himeko's arms was a black cat, eyes bright, ears pivoting, head turning this way and that in confusion and curiosity.

He was better now. The cat would never again be cold, or hungry, or lonely. No one could hurt him ever again. He was better than he was in life. Infinitely present and here with her.

In amazement, sheer awe at what she had done, the ghost named Himeko ran her hand down the cat's back and he 'mrrrooow?'ed at her inquisitively.

"I can fix them." Himeko said in joyful realization.

She named the cat Shiro. He was perfect. And from now on, he would be Safe and Sound.