001: Begin

The stairs seemed unending and, worst of all, steep. If it could be considered a mercy, every twenty or so steps was a more spacious landing.

Probably so you can look and see how much farther you have to go, Yusuke thought, already dreading the idea of making the climb.

Sweat gathered at the nape of his neck, the sweltering sun only made worse by the unbearable humidity. He'd shucked the outer layer of his light jacket, opting instead to carry it over his shoulder, but even that made for a paltry cover.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"I'm sure of it." Keiko adjusted the brim of her large sun hat, before seeming to come to a decision. "Come on, Yusuke, if we stand here all day we'll never get to the top."

Good for her, the man thought, watching with some appreciation as his girlfriend practically leapt up the first few steps. Give it another twenty steps and she wouldn't be making her way up with such energy, but he could at least appreciate the view while she was ahead. The shorts she'd chosen today did wonders for her legs. Ahead, the so-called Sunset Shrine seemed relatively quiet, its large torii waiting for them at the top.

To Yusuke's eyes, it looked like every other modest shrine that he'd visited as a grade school student – a little smaller than the larger ones tourists and students might have gone to for photo-ops, but it wasn't too far from the city and was seated on some decent real estate as far as locations went. No doubt there was a gift shop where some bored teenager moonlighted as a shrine maiden for spare cash, selling the dime-a-dozen blessings and postcards.

He gave another distasteful look at the stretch of stairs before sighing; there wasn't any use to waiting at the bottom for Keiko at this point, not with her heart set on spending a rare off-day chasing after mementos and myths.

"Okay, but I'm not carrying all the little knick-knacks you end up buying here like the last one—"

Ask Yusuke how he ended up going down a flight of some hundred and eighty eight uneven, winding steps carrying a lacquered set of tea cups with matching tea pot, several tiny, delicate ceramic figurines, and a tourist-trap of cheap yukata, and he'd spew twenty colorful curse words about that adventure two shrines ago.

In no time, he was halfway up the stairs and Keiko's nose had taken on a light sheen of sweat. She'd stopped going on ahead of him, instead choosing to match his measured pace.

"What's so special about this one?"

A young man and woman were making their way down the stairs, their hands loosely clasped together in an easy-going manner. Yusuke caught the eye of the woman, younger than he'd first thought, and nodded in acknowledgement. She smiled back, ducking her head as the man guided her down.

"When I was making my list this past spring, this one came up as a good one for young people. Some of the travel blogs I read said it had an interesting story behind its god tree."

"Yeah?" He humored.

"Local legend says a demon was imprisoned to the tree for decades, and that the shrine's been protected ever since by all sorts of demon-folk."

He paused, looking upwards at the torii, still waiting for them. His face twisted itself in skepticism as he shot Keiko a look. "Demons? Don't we have enough of that going on?" He really didn't want to have to kick ass on a decent Sunday.

Keiko shook her head. "It's all good things, though. People come here all the time for good luck, supposedly. The family that lives here has been here for generations, it's practically a local treasure." She looked back down at the smaller figures of the couple, now closer to the base of the steps towards the path that led to the street. "I bet they came here for blessings. The shrine's got a history for young lovers. At least, that's what the blogs said."

"Listen, I know I'm not usually the brightest guy around, but I'm not really seeing the connection between a demon tree and romance."

Her mouth twisting in a wry smile, Keiko reached out to encircle her fingers around his wrist. "Come on, it's just easier if you hear the story when we're up there."

"It better be a good one," Yusuke said, but allowed her to pull him along the steps. "With some lunch, maybe, afterwards."

This will be told in semi-connected pieces. The title is taken from e.e. cummings' poem of the same name. Tentative romances are being planned out, but they're secondary to the character building. I have no actual timeline or completion date in mind, but I don't intend on abandoning this anytime soon. Updates will be sporadic, but I hope you'll be interested enough to hop along.