5
"Good morning, Mrs. Henrick!"
"Oh, good morning, Taylor." The old woman looked up from her flowerbeds with a wrinkled smile. Taylor returned it, disheveled and panting from her run as she was. "Bright eyed and bushy tailed again today, I see."
"Heh, I guess. Got a bit of a routine going. Don't you? I see you out here like, three times a week."
"Got to keep on top of these weeds or they'll run rampant, dear. Haven't you ever gardened before?" She asked, even as she dug up a stubborn dandelion.
"Mhm," Taylor shook her head. "Until recently, most of my hobbies have been inside things."
"Oh, now that's a shame. Young girls should be out and about in the fresh air. Keeps you young!" Old Mrs. Henrick turned her gnarled fingers on a few shoots of Creeping Charlie trying to stage an insurgency. "I remember when my parents got me my first bicycle, long ago. Fell in love and never looked back! I met my George that way. He used to service the things, had a little garage he worked in with his papa."
"Huh! I never knew. That's pretty cool." Taylor watched Sunshine's tail flick once before the canine vanished around the far side of the Henricks' fence as she left to do... whatever it was when she wasn't hanging out with Taylor. The sight of the peeling paint and aging wood sparked an idea, which quickly tickled at her brain until she voiced it.
"Hey, does Mr. Henrick still fix bikes?"
"Oh? Well, we're both too old for that sort of thing, now. He's still just as good with his hands as he ever was, though," Old Mrs. Henrick smiled. Taylor quickly pressed on.
"D'ya think maybe he could fix mine? It's not broken or anything, it's just been sitting too long and I don't know how to take care of it. I could repaint your fence for you in trade?" Taylor gestured at the previously-white pickets.
"Oh?" Old Mrs. Henrick eyed the fence as well. "Well... that sounds a fair trade to me, young lady. George has been meaning to paint that darn thing for years, never gets around to it."
"Okay, sounds like a deal!"
* * *
The task ate up the rest of the day and even stretched into the evening, late enough that when Danny Hebert came home he found Taylor still outside, now sitting on the front steps of the Henricks' porch. The older couple were sharing the padded loveseat swing, while Old Mrs. Henrick recounted some fond story of her youth. The fireflies were out in force, too, several of them weaving in and out of the spokes of the bicycle sitting propped near the mailbox. From here it kind of looked like Taylor's, but that old thing had sat in the garage for years now, and this one had a pair of sturdy courier's baskets bolted to the sides.
Danny grabbed the mail from his own box, and paused at the sound of quiet shared laughter. It was only 9-something, maybe he should—
He shook his head. He needed to be at the Rig early tomorrow. He rattled his keys a bit, and called out, "Hey sweetie!"
"Hi Dad!"
"Did you eat already?"
"Mhm!"
"Alright. Don't stay out too late— and goodnight, Mr. Henrick, Mrs. Henrick."
* * *
Sunshine seemed to approve of the bike. The baskets were big enough to hold a couple of paint cans each, which the wolf proved by loading up with the remaining white paint from the Henricks' fence and a dusty can of red from the Heberts' own garage. Having wheels meant their morning run could cover a lot further distance, too— even into the heart of ABB territory. Taylor started packing a lunch for her and Sunny before heading out in the morning.
"Sunny, I'm not really sure about this..." Taylor said, even as she popped the kickstand and walked the laden bicycle under the archway of the old shrine. "It's not all that safe around here, you know that. I don't understand why you're so insistent."
Sunshine made a plaintive whine, and cast sad doggy eyes at the overgrown path and darkened buildings.
"Yeah, I know it looks pretty bad. This place is wrecked. Nobody's taken care of it, it's pretty clear it's not wanted." Taylor frowned. "And the building back there looked like something smashed it, even. Why would you even want to—" Sunny was looking at her, gaze patient, but her furry body completely still. A complete arrest of motion. Taylor's complaint caught in her throat and refused to complete itself. The last time Sunny had been that still was when...
"Oh..." Mom's flute. Taylor remembered the sight of the crusted filth and smashed keys. She looked at the arch again, a bit closer, and brushed her fingers along one of the slight grooves that ran along the poles. "...this thing's handmade, huh? Someone loved it, once."
Sunny's tail gave a single slow wag. Taylor bit her lip, feeling a flicker of shame heat her cheeks. "I'm not gonna have much time for stuff like this once school starts back up, you know." Sunny's tail wagged a bit faster. "...but I've still got a month or so of vacation. No idea what to do about the building, but— I guess start from the outside, and we'll work our way in?"
Sunshine's tail whapped the ground, pleased. Taylor smiled.
* * *
Sunny found a ladder somewhere and with it, Taylor repainted the arch. She felt it best not to ask how the canine managed to run with a ladder balanced on her furry back— some things are better off just being accepted.
The next day, Taylor brought a rake and started clearing the path. Sunny helped by digging up all the flower beds.
The day after, Taylor found two bags of potting soil and a pile of seed packets sitting next to the upturned beds. Sunny sniffed at them, and barked. Taylor was baffled.
"Where'd these even come from?" She asked, sifting through the little paper packets. There were vegetable seeds, flower seeds, perennial and annual... "None of these even match. It's like someone just grabbed one of everything." Sunny made a shrugging motion. Impressive, for a dog. "Well, whatever. I guess I'll just... sort them by type?" She did, and with a bit of help got them all planted. Taylor wasn't sure how quickly such things were supposed to grow, but they seemed to be sprouting just fine by the end of the week.
The pattern continued: Taylor would start on an area of the shrine, and the next day there would be something waiting nearby for her to use. She scrubbed layers of grime from an old fountain, and found a coil of hose leading off past a hedge, connected by extensions to some far-off property. She applied sandpaper to the worn steps, and found a can of varnish waiting. She cleared away fallen boards and cracked roof tiles, and found a box of nails and a pile of fresh tiles stacked neatly nearby. That job required some coaxing and another ladder from Sunny to attempt.
It wasn't just supplies, either: after a few weeks, other items started appearing. Small things, mostly, and most often a type of food. A warm loaf of bread one day, which Sunny graciously split with Taylor and a small coterie of nearby sparrows and mice. A bowl of rice, a small basket of fruits, a pile of little rice cakes. The shrine slowly shaped up, regained color and warmth, and Taylor started noticing light footprints in the dirt and grass when she arrived in the mornings.
And so it went. Taylor and Sunshine would ride out in the morning, do some work around the shrine, then eat lunch in the shade of a large, rope-circled tree before going home. One day, near the end of summer, lunch was interrupted.
A man appeared out of thin air, just outside the torii arch, then walked inside a few steps and stopped on the freshly-swept cobblestones. The tusked demon mask turned this way and that, looking over the flower beds and the water basin and the quiet sun-speckled grass. Then the mask turned towards the tree, and caught sight of Taylor sitting at its base, in her white painter's pants and red work apron, her fork still paused in her mouth. Oni Lee paused, then walked towards her. Taylor swallowed.
"...good morning." Well, what else could she say?
"Good morning," Oni Lee responded, after a long moment. "You are the... keeper here? Miko?" There was a hint of skepticism under the resonance of the mask.
"Um. I'm Taylor." Any moment that Oni Lee is not killing you is a good moment. Taylor continued speaking. "I've been fixing the place up a bit, if that's what you mean?" Oni Lee nodded, and turned his head slightly. Taylor took a careful glance in the same direction, but saw only the same things as earlier. Water fountain, flower beds... a bead of sweat tickled Taylor's neck. The idea was crazy, but... "Have you been leaving things here?"
The cape nodded again. "Uh, thank you. It's been very helpful." Another nod. The tension stretched. Taylor licked her lips, looking for something—anything—to keep things from escalating. She settled on her lunch.
"Want some... egg?" She held out the little box of rolled omelette-things. Her attempts at working through the cookbook Sunny had unburied were still a work in progress. Oni Lee paused, rocking slightly with an aborted motion, but after a moment he continued it and stepped over to the tree. The assassin settled down on the grass next to her, plucked a morsel from the proffered meal, and slipped it under his mask. Taylor watched the motion of his throat as he chewed in a sort of horrified fascination.
"Is... is it good?"
Oni Lee swallowed. "No."
"...oh. Um. Sorry."
"Needs mirin. Sweet rice wine, for cooking," he explained.
"Oh. I'll... look for some. Thank you." The silence stretched. Taylor ran nervous hands over her smock. "You must come here a lot."
"...yes," Oni Lee said. "I... had forgotten it was here."
"O-oh. Um. Did you used to come here, then?"
Oni Lee shook his head. "No." He paused. "My sister came here. She sold charms." Strange... there was a sort of wondering quality to his voice, now.
"Did she?" What, like, charm bracelets?
Oni Lee nodded, first slow, then more firmly. Taylor's ears picked up on the steady click-click of Sunny's paws on the stone path. Finally. The wolf's ears perked up as she caught sight of the two sitting under the tree, and she trotted over and sat down in front of them. Oni Lee stared, then hedged, "...your dog?"
Um. "She likes her ears rubbed," Taylor offered instead.
Oni Lee was still for another long moment, before he stretched out one hand and set it atop Sunshine's head. The wolf's tail wagged in a vaguely circular motion, and the cape took a sharp breath. His hand moved, and rubbed at Sunny's ears, and the wolf gave an appreciative whine. Oni Lee pet Sunny for a moment more, then retracted his hand. Sunshine wagged her tail more freely.
"What else do you need? ...for the shrine."
"Oh. Um." Taylor bit her lip, equally afraid of her answer and of lying. "Well... I'm about at the limit of what I can do. The inside needs a lot of repair and I don't know how to fix it. And school's starting soon, I won't have much time to learn."
"Then... I will send men to fix it. With your permission," he added.
"Oh! Uh, sure, that'd— that'd be great. Thanks." Oni Lee nodded, then finally stood, took a step, and vanished in a puff of ash. Taylor felt all the strength leave her bones. "Well, that... happened." Sunshine just grinned.
* * *
"You, send a message to the store's owner. He needs to know the rules of owning a business in our territory. You, go with him. And you, take inventory of your group's weaponry. Fix any discrepancies before I do." Lung's mask turned to regard each lieutenant in turn. He grunted, satisfied. "Good. Lee, anything to report?"
Oni Lee paused. "I pet a dog today."
Heads turned, including Lung's. Under his mask, Oni Lee felt his mouth twitch in an unfamiliar upward motion.
