The first time met him was when I was five.

I was sitting outside on the porch near the rice paddy fields while he was visiting the house next door with a Mushi-shi. The house next door's little baby had gotten sick during the winter with cold icy skin and wasn't getting any better.

Mama had told me to stay in the yard and not to go near them. She told me that they must have been being punished for something that they were doing. They seemed like good people though.

He was a strange boy though. A bit older than me, maybe eight or nine, with white hair and beautiful green eyes. He didn't seem to talk unless it was needed either. Strange.

He didn't look near our house much either.

New short story to kill time that I've had in my mind for a while now.

-Solomon