Okay, I decided to upload this story on here for no apparrent reason... it was originally uploaded on deviantART but I thought I might actually get some reviews on it here xD

So yea it's an Okami fanfic, and it has two OCs in it, one of which is Kal and another that appears later. And yes, I made Kal be Waka's dog, though that might make more sense later xD (Other than the more obvious reason that Waka is my favourite character OTL)

Also there isn't really any OCxcanon or anything like that, other than a master/dog relationship...

And a Tsubasa Inu is something made up obviously xD Translated it means "winged dog", for obvious reasons...

Anyways hopefully this thing will be somewhat interesting/understandable xD It does go through the storyline of Okami, though the prologue is before the events of the game~

Okay I'll shut up now, enjoy! xD

The sun shone from a cloudless sky, lighting up the water of a flowing river embedded in a forest. It roared past, waves lapping at an old bridge that refused to give in to the violent water. Deeper into the forest the small lake of water was almost perfectly still. The only noise here was a gentle breeze rustling the remaining leaves hanging from the trees, and the lonely sound of a flute that echoed through the air.

A young man waded through the shallow water onto one of the islands, gripping a bow in one hand, a bag of arrows hung on his back. He had been practising his archery skills all morning.

"One day I shall be the greatest archer in all of Nippon!" he chirped joyfully to himself, looking around for another target. He rarely ever missed what he aimed to hit. He took out an arrow and pulled the bow back, releasing it a few moments later. It shot through the air and sliced through the stem of an apple in one of the trees on the far back, causing it to drop to the ground and roll down into the water, where it floated like a buoy. Yoichi smiled to himself.

He glanced up into the trees. This was where he needed the most practice; shooting upwards. He scanned the treetops until eventually his eyes came to rest on a large hawk; he could only see the head from here, but at least if he aimed for that it wouldn't feel any pain. After all, his father could always cook it for dinner. He was starting to get a little sick of apples.

He loaded another arrow into his bow and pulled back the string, releasing and watching as it launched into the air, straight towards the hawk. It was going to land right on target.

Suddenly the flute music stopped. Something shiny lashed out, slicing the arrow in half. Yoichi stared in disbelief as the two halves clattered onto the rock a few metres away.

"Excusez-moi! What do you think you are doing?"

"Ah! I… I…" Yoichi quickly jumped around, trying to see who was addressing him. There didn't appear to be anyone in sight. He re-composed himself. "Who are you?" he demanded, trying to sound brave. "Show yourself!"

"Perhaps you should try looking in the right direction, mon ami," the French-accented voice mocked him.

Yoichi listened harder this time, finally glancing up into the trees. There was a man on one of the high branches above him, seemingly balancing without problem despite his stilt-like shoes. He was wearing some kind of hawk-head hat with long, red-tipped wings draped from the sides, and Yoichi realised, a little embarrassed, that he had mistaken the hat for an actual hawk. The strange man slipped a sword back into the scabbard used to encase it, showing that it was he who had just sliced the arrow in half.

"Wha… ha… how did you get up there?" Yoichi gasped.

"That does not matter," the man said mysteriously, flicking his hand as if wafting away the question. "What does matter is what you are doing here. Hunters are not welcome in Agata Forest."

"Well… then…" Yoichi glanced up at the man; it seemed strange that he had got so high up into the tree, which had very few branches, but he didn't look strong enough to have climbed it. "Who are you to stop me, pretty boy?"

"So that's how it is." Somehow the man's voice only had the slightest serious edge to it.

Quick as a flash he pulled the sword back out of the scabbard and flung it down, purposely missing Yoichi by just a few inches. The young lad jumped back in fright and quickly raced away through the trees, dropping a few apples in his haste to escape.

"Young fool," the man muttered quietly to himself. He glanced up at the sky; it was starting to get dark, however the moon never shone this deep into Agata Forest. According to myth, a giant fish had swallowed the moon; not seemingly that believable, but there didn't seem to be much other explanation. Deciding it was high time he returned to his ship in the capital, he jumped from the branch, floating along to a nearby tree with the wings on his hat. He continued to fly from tree to tree; he could teleport, but why miss the wonderful views from the treetops?

He soon arrived at the large cliff-like hill that separated the main part of the forest from the river. As he neared the far edge, looking down over the rushing water, he noticed something lying on the riverbank.

"Hmm? What is this?" he muttered out loud to no one in particular. He floated down to the ground, the wings on his hat flapping in the breeze. As he landed his geta shoes didn't even penetrate the marshy ground. He stood for a moment looking at the strange object. Then he gasped. "Mon dieu!"

Collapsed on the riverbank was a large black Labrador-like dog, it's dark purple eyes blank. The only thing that made it seem different from a normal dog was the fact that on it's back, being pulled back slightly by the current of the water, were bat-like wings. The water that passed the limp animal was slowly stained with blood that spread out into the river.

Straight through it's head was a large hunting arrow.

"That boy," the man shook his head in disbelief, his voice no longer having that cheery ring to it. "I doubt he even knows what he has done."

A sudden squeaky whimper got his attention. He glanced around to see what had made the noise, his eyes finally coming to rest on a small patch of long grass. Taking his sword out of it's sheath, he cautiously wandered over.

Using the sword he carefully parted the grass incase it was something dangerous, though he doubted that highly. There was a small black shape hidden there; it was another dog, though this time merely a tiny puppy. It had the same dragon-like wings, though much smaller, and was shivering helplessly.

The man knew what this dog was; a Tsubasa Inu, one of the rarest breeds on Earth. The fact that the kid had managed to shoot one and leave it there to die - as well as one that was a mother looking after it's pup - sent a spark of rage to the man's eyes. However, calm as he was, it soon died down. He let out a quiet sigh and picked up the puppy, cradling it in his arms.

"I suppose I can't leave you out here to die, ma cherié," he smiled. "Let's get you back to somewhere warm…" he cast one last look at the limp body lying beside the river. "And safe."

And with that, he and the puppy disappeared in a cloud of sparks.

Kamo lifted his yellow mask to rub his eyes. He'd been awake for most of the night and day guarding the ship that hovered above Sei'an, and was now finding it hard to stay awake. He often wondered what the point in guarding the place was - after all, not many people would be able to get to it. But Kamo was the newest member of the Tao Troopers, and he wanted to prove himself. He was going to make his captain proud by guarding the place until he dropped.

"Bonjour!"

"Ah!" Kamo gasped, nearly falling backwards. He held onto his staff, trying to regain his balance on the stilts that he wore as part of his uniform. "Captain Waka! I… didn't see you there…" He hadn't noticed his captain arrive; he must have dozed off for a few moments. He stood tall to hope Waka hadn't noticed.

"I see you are doing a very good job, mon ami," Waka raised an eyebrow as he walked towards the door. The young guard looked like he might fall asleep at any moment. "But I shall relieve you of your duty for now. We don't want you getting tired."

"Oh, thank you!" Kamo sighed with relief. "I mean… thank you, Captain Waka." He then noticed the captain had something in his arms. "Is that… a dog?"

"Oui, what good observation you have," Waka told him, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I thought dogs didn't usually have… wings?"

"Tsubasas do. The rarest breed in all of Nippon. This one's mother was killed by an arrow."

"So you brought it back with you?"

"Would you leave a puppy alone to starve to death?" Waka protested defiantly, his voice uncharacteristically serious.

"I… guess not. Sorry," Kamo apologised with a nervous laugh. He hadn't thought of his captain as being an animal lover.

Starlight reflected perfectly on the wide stretch of water. No moon, just starlight. To the inquisitive puppy it seemed a little odd. She feverishly reached over onto the water and dabbed one of the star's reflections with her paw.

"Watch out for the giant fish, ma cherié!" Waka teased from where he was sat on one of the tree branches nearby.

The puppy let out a yelp and jumped away from the water, her wings carrying her nary a few feet before she landed back on the ground again. Then she let out a huff and turned to look at the prophet with an unimpressed look on her face.

Waka had soon worked out that she could understand what he was saying - in fact, it seemed as if he'd already known. It had been half a year since he had taken her in, and she was now around two years old - if she had been any regular dog she would have been considered an adult by now, but as a Tsubasa it would be another eight or so years until she was fully grown. They more or less aged in human years, however they matured a lot faster.

Now named Kalerako, though more often shortened to Kal, she spent most of her time either cooped up in the ship in Sei'an, or out here in Agata forest whenever Waka brought her there. Since she was still a puppy, whenever she was allowed out he normally kept his eye on her.

"Still need some practise in flying, I see?" he smiled. "Never fear, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually."

"Eventually?" she sighed. She knew he couldn't understand her - after all, despite the strangeness of her breed, she was still a dog, unable to speak human. But she had the ability to portray emotions better than any normal breed, and thus it was relatively easy to work out what her mood was or what she was thinking. She liked talking to humans even though they could not hear her - if they made a reaction to her facial expressions, it was like having a conversation with them.

"Your wings are not strong enough to hold you up yet," he continued. "They'll grow."

He lifted his wooden flute up to his lips and started to play the tune that Kal had gotten used to by now. It almost looked as if the stars were glistening brighter with the calming music, but she shook the thought away. Too young to fly? She'd show him!

Running over to the tree where Waka was sat, she flapped her bat-like wings and jumped up towards the first branch. She wasn't that good at jumping, but her wings helped carry her the extra few metres and she landed on the branch. This was too easy. She jumped from the branch as if it were a springboard and floated up to the next one. Glancing up, she saw the third branch on which Waka was sat. It was further away than the other two had been, but nothing she couldn't manage. She readied herself and sprang upwards, her wings beating furiously as she tried to gain height. She could feel the momentum lessening as she came closer to the branch, and with a flash of panic she realised she wouldn't be able to make it. Forcing her wings to carry her higher, she managed to hook her front paws over the branch and scrabbled for a hold to try and pull herself up.

"Ah, bravo!" Waka laughed, lifting her up properly onto the branch by the scruff. "In a few years you'll be able to fly above the trees easily."

Kal glanced up at the treetops. The trees in Agata forest were extremely high, at least three times the height the branch they were on was. She felt dizzy at the thought of ever being able to fly that high, but excited at the same time.

Waka briefly ruffled her ears, then returned to playing his flute. Settling down on the wide tree branch, Kal rested her head on his lap, listening to the peaceful music as it slowly lulled her to sleep.

The view from above the city was quite a sight; the ship was so high above the ground that the clouds below made it hard to see, but it was obvious the area was bustling with life.

Kal was stood at the edge of the balcony-like area at the front of the ship, her head on her paws as she looked down past the railings at Sei'an City. The commoner's quarter housed most of the villagers, however the city's aristocrats lived in the north of the city, where the buildings were considerably fancier. She wanted to fly down and have a look around, but Waka never let her go to the city - he never told her why. She thought about trying to creep out, but with Kamo almost constantly keeping guard outside the only door of the ship she was guaranteed to get caught.

Her mind drifted over to reasons as to why she wasn't allowed into the city. Did Waka think she was going to get herself hurt? It was a city, not a pit of spikes!

Perhaps he thought the city dwellers might be scared of her. After all, when Kamo had started talking to her once - whether he knew she could understand him or not beyond her - he'd been speculating about why she had wings and could fly, leading her to realise that most other breeds of dog didn't. He'd mentioned the idea of one of her ancestors being a dragon and had seemed quite surprised when she'd given him a hard stare.

Her ears twitched as she heard the wooden sound of Waka's shoes and knew immediately he was walking towards her, but she didn't turn around, caught in her own world.

"Ah, Kalerako, I see you are inspecting the view, oui?"

She gave a faint grunt to let him know she had heard him, but still didn't turn around. He only addressed her by her full name when he was trying to wind her up, which she was getting plenty used to by now.

Waka strolled over to where she was standing and watched with interest as she constantly stared down at the city below, almost as if she were frozen. "Alas, I must go and check on the seal at the Moon Cave, yet it seems that there is no one to look after the city in my absence."

At last Kal turned to look at him, her eyes wide, trying to work out what he was implying, but as usual his expression gave nothing away.

"If only there were someone who would… I don't know, wander around the city for a while, just to make sure nothing bad happens."

Dropping down onto all fours again and turning towards him, Kal stretched her neck to press her nose into the palm of his hand to get his attention. Was he finally going to let her go down into the city?

"What, you would like to guard the city for me?" he teased with mock surprise, pretending the idea had only just come to him.

Kal wasn't fooled, but if this was her ticket to Sei'an, she wasn't going to let the chance slip away. Her tail wagged enthusiastically.

"Well, I suppose the citizens will have to meet you eventually, and a puppy isn't as scary as a full-grown dog, is it, ma cherié? Just stay out of trouble," he warned, though his voice still had that usual playful ring to it. "I'll be back in a few hours. Au revoir!"

With that, he jumped into the air, the wings on his hat spreading as he floated down to earth and disappeared below the clouds.

Right. Now came the hard part. Kal had spent over a year wanting to get to the city but never once thought about how far down it was. Suddenly it seemed like a very long fall.

Yet she knew that Waka wouldn't have let her go unless he was confident she'd manage to fly down; after all, she'd spent months practising in the forest; the only difference here was there were no trees to crash into. Taking a deep breath, she spread her wings and dived over the edge of the rails.

At first she flapped her wings, making the descent slow, but she soon realised that it was unneeded effort. Instead she folded them back against her side and dived down towards the city, enjoying the feeling of the breeze buffeting her ears and fur. It was fun freefalling, knowing she could land easily, and she made a mental note to try flying to the highest branches of the trees next time she was in Agata.

As she got closer to the ground the clouds faded and she could see the ground more clearly.

That's when she realised how fast she was approaching it. She quickly spread her wings to slow down her fall, flailing them desperately.

Thank the gods there was a pool of water below her.

She splashed ungracefully into the water, quickly doggy paddling her way to the surface and scrambling out onto the grass, coughing and shaking the dampness from her fur. It slicked back uncomfortably, but she just shrugged and padded away from the pond, hoping no one had noticed. The sun was out today so hopefully her fur would dry off quickly.

Then she heard some voices. Quickly she dived behind the shelter of a rock.

"I told you, I just saw a dog fall from the sky!"

"Rao, are definitely you sure you weren't seeing things…?"

"Oh come on, Himiko, how are you ever going to be queen with that attitude? The poor thing might be hurt!"

"I really think it's unlikely that a dog would…"

"Hey look! There it is!"

Kal jumped as the person who had been speaking came into sight. It was a young teenage girl with black hair, partially covered by a hood. She pushed her fringe further back with one hand as she cautiously came closer.

Well, since she was here, she might as well get to know the villagers. Kal could detect that there was another person nearby as well, so she carefully folded her wings over her back and took a step out from behind the rock.

"Oh!" the girl gasped, taking a half-step back. "It's got wings!"

"What? OK, now I know this can't be real," the other person huffed, though her voice was so soft that it was almost hard to tell she was angry. "Dogs don't have…" she trailed off as she noticed Kal, standing smugly ahead of her, tail wagging, "… wings…?"

Now that Kal could see her, she noticed that the other girl was slightly older than the first, but she had a pretty face and long black hair that looked perfectly brushed.

"Here, doggy!" The first girl held out her hand.

"Careful! It might be dangerous!" the second cried.

They thought she was just a normal dog. A normal dog that for some reason had wings. Trying to look as harmless as possible, Kal padded quietly over to the girl and sniffed her outstretched hand.

"I don't think she'd hurt a fly," the girl smiled as she ruffled Kal's ears. "Hi there, doggy. Where do you come from?"

Momentarily forgetting that they didn't expect her to understand them, Kal glanced upwards to where the ship was, yet the low-hanging clouds over the city obscured it from view.

"The sky, huh?" the girl chirped. "Well, I'm Rao and this is Himiko, we're from the north of the city!" Her voice lowered. "Her dad is king of Nippon, but it's hard to tell sometimes."

"Hey!" Himiko protested quietly, her own curiosity getting the better of her as she walked over to stroke Kal. "I won't have to be queen for ages yet."

"You make it sound like being the ruler of Nippon is a bad thing!" Rao exclaimed, standing up fully again.

"If it means I'm going to get an obsession with collecting demon fangs like my father does, then I'd say it is a bad thing," Himiko sighed. She gave Kal one last stroke. "Still, I guess he'll be wondering where I am. I have to get back home."

"Same," Rao shrugged. "Mum wants me to help her sort through some old scrolls, and there's all sorts of juicy info in those things." Her eyes lit up for a moment. "Well, bye doggy! Wherever your home is, I hope you get back safely too."

She skipped away across the bridge nearby. Himiko let out a sigh as she stood up again. "Why did I have to be the heir to the throne?"

Kal tipped her head on one side questioningly.

Himiko blinked. "You can understand me, huh? Well, I guess you can't tell anyone this… but, well, sometimes I wonder how I'll ever be a good queen. I'm just… I don't know. The thought of all those people I'd have to look out for…"

Kal let out a quiet woof of sympathy as Himiko turned and followed her friend, her steps not nearly as filled with excitement as hers had been.

Deciding that she might as well go and explore the city while she was here, Kal padded along the path that lead further into the town, trying to stay in the sun as much as possible so her fur would try quicker. She followed the stones that created the main route through the city and soon she caught a very strong smell of flowers. She easily cleared the river by flying across and landed on the other side to find herself in a garden laden with cherry blossom petals. The house that stood in the middle of the garden had a thick cherry blossom tree as the roof. A somewhat elderly man glanced in her direction and Kal was dumbfounded to see he even had a small tree on his head.

"My, you're a strange looking dog, aren't you?" he commented as he walked stiffly over and held out his hand for her to sniff. He even smelt of flowers. "Enjoying the blossoms around the city? They make the villagers happy, so I must protect them."

"Whatever you say, mister," Kal muttered, turning and hurrying away incase the enthusiasm for trees was contagious.

Venturing into the north of the city, the one thing that caught her eye was a very tall building near the far end. Kal wandered over to investigate, but after walking around the building she realised there was no door to it.

"Huh?" she tipped her head to one side in confusion. She could hear a noise coming from somewhere near the top of the building, so she flapped her wings and flew towards the roof.

Strangely enough, there was what seemed to be a house at the very top of the building. She curiously nosed the door open and padded inside.

It was a lot louder in the room than it had been outside. There was a short man with greying hair and a light bulb on his head racing around, whacking nails into a large contraption with a hammer. After a few minutes he eventually glanced over and noticed her baffled glance.

"Ah! A dog! How did a dog get in here?" He jumped down from a step ladder that he'd only been standing on for a few seconds and scurried over.

"Why is everyone in this city so crazy?" she groaned to herself.

"Oh look, a flying dog!" he exclaimed, pacing around. He never stayed still for even one second. "I wonder if I could invent something that made dogs fly…"

Kal took a step back to avoid being stepped on.

"Oh, of course, how rude of me. Gen's the name, inventing's my game. Built just about every contraption in this city, I did. Now then, what's your name?"

"Kal?" she raised an eyebrow. Could he understand her?

"Well, I'm sure it's a very nice one!" he clapped, racing away to go and bang in another nail. Obviously he was like all the other humans. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to try and finish this…"

Padding back outside, Kal glanced around. She'd seen most of the city by now, and had been out for an hour at least. Stretching her wings ready for the fly back, she took off into the air and headed for the Tao Troop ship.

There was some kind of presence in the air. Kal wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed… evil somehow. And yet it was stronger than the average imp that would jump out every once in a while. It was something much bigger, more powerful, like nothing she had encountered before.

Suddenly she jumped as a sword flew to the ground in front of her, embedding itself in the moist earth.

"Paying attention yet, mon ami?"

Drawing her concentration back to what was actually happening, she pulled the sword from the earth and chucked it back over to where Waka was standing with a flick of her head. It clattered to the ground in front of him.

"Well, I think we can safely say that throwing is not one of your strong points," he commented, picking up the sword, wiping the mud off, and putting it back in the scabbard at his side. "But considering you're a dog, I suppose that could be considered a pretty good aim."

"Yeah right," Kal huffed, reaching back and grabbing the handle of her own sword in her jaws and expertly pulling it from the sheath on her back. She'd learnt a long time ago how to draw her sword without accidentally slicing through her wings, which she had almost done on numerous occasions. So what if she was a dog. Dogs didn't usually have wings. Or live as long as she had. She was 17 years old now, still considered young for a Tsubasa. She wasn't a normal dog.

Every so often Waka would train her how to fight with a sword, and after a few years she'd even been given her own, mainly for self-defence. But there was plenty of evil in the world and she'd fought off a fair share of monsters - granted they were mainly imps, but still, pretty impressive considering what she was.

Her sword wasn't the only unusual thing on her; she had a dark purple collar, with various metallic sections that had faintly glowing blue lines on them, around her neck, which most humans she came across assumed to be highly decorated. Yet infact it was a piece of technology - it somehow gave her the ability to teleport, which was handy considering Waka was able to do that naturally, and flying around trying to work out where he'd disappeared to was tiresome. Only he and the Tao Troopers knew what the actual reason for her collar was, however.

She decided that whatever this strange air was, it couldn't be that important. After all, Waka was a prophet. If anything important was going to happen he'd have seen it coming.

She watched as he drew his main sword, Pillow Talk, from his flute. He'd been on the defensive when he'd first told her the name and she'd thrown him one of her "you must be completely crazy" looks. She had also wondered briefly whether her own sword would have been some kind of transforming instrument, but considering she had paws instead of hands she wouldn't have been able to get it to open into a weapon anyway, so it was probably better that hers was a normal one from the Tool Dealer.

Waka waved the sword around as if he were slicing through an invisible enemy; she knew he was doing this to try and confuse her, and she watched his movements closely to try and work out when he would strike.

Suddenly the strange presence grew stronger, as if whatever it was coming from was getting more powerful. She still couldn't work out what it was, but the sense of how much power it had… it sent a chill down her spine.

Then suddenly she was snapped back to reality as she got a sharp pain in her right shoulder, realising that she'd lost her concentration once again and she'd been hit by Pillow Talk. She jumped back, her claws scoring marks in the earth as she tried not to fall into the lake.

"Désolé," Waka muttered guiltily, floating back a few metres. "I thought you were paying attention still…"

Kal let out a quiet growl, angry at herself rather than Waka, and gave her shoulder a quick lick. She wasn't too bothered by the wound; after all, it was hardly the first time she'd been caught by a sword during training. And it would be completely unnoticeable in a few days - any wounds she did get healed very quickly. She was irritated by the strange air, for it kept distracting her. Perhaps it was just her imagination playing tricks on her.

Snapping her attention back again, she thought for a moment and shot forwards, but Waka jumped effortlessly out of the way before she got to the spot where he had been standing.

"You'll have to be faster than that!" he grinned, twirling his sword like a baton in one hand.

"Faster thinking," she growled under her breath, trying to remember everything he'd taught her. "Quick decisions… quick as lightning…"

Lightning!

An idea popping into her head, Kal recomposed herself and jumped towards Waka once more. He hopped out of the way as she expected he would. As soon as she saw him move, the blue on her collar glowed brighter and she vanished in a spark of electricity. She reappeared in front of him and he only just managed to lift his sword quickly enough to block her attack.

Hmm. Still not fast enough.

She disappeared again, using her collar to her advantage, something she hadn't thought of before. This time she reappeared on the other side of the island in the shallow lake, but instead of attacking again she teleported over to the opposite side. She continued flitting around, vanishing and reappearing so fast that the only thing that could be seen were the sparks from her collar that circled the island. She felt a wave of triumph as she saw the confusion that crossed the prophet's face.

Eventually she picked a direction to attack from and appeared in front of Waka once more, flying towards him. This time he couldn't lift his sword fast enough.

"Gah!" he gasped as he was knocked over backwards.

Kal, on the other hand, had been going even faster than she'd thought - most likely because of how quickly she'd been teleporting - and was thrown into the lake. Good thing the water here wasn't too deep. She fished out her sword and climbed back onto the island, shaking water from her fur.

Waka was still lying on the ground, and for a horrifying moment Kal was worried she'd actually managed to hurt him. She let out a quiet whimper and darted over, but before she got to him he jumped back to his feet.

"Bien cuit!" he beamed, transforming his sword back into a flute again and ruffling her ears. "Very interesting. I doubt many demons would be able to escape that one." He carefully rolled up one of the slightly torn sleeves of his kimono and inspected a gash that ran across his arm. Kal felt a stab of guilt as she realised it was a fresh wound. Waka noticed her shamefaced glance. "Ah, don't worry, ma cherié, it's not too serious."

He took his second sword from the sheath at his side and stuck it in the ground in the centre of the island. "Let's see if you can pull it off again." Obviously he knew better than to be a target for that move a second time.

Kal locked her vision onto the sword and tried to use her collar for teleporting, but as soon as she tried there was a crack and a spark flew from it, the blue glow fading.

"Oops…" she flinched. She tried to teleport again but nothing happened.

"I guess you overused it," Waka commented. "Ah well, I'll fix it in a minute." He pulled the sword out from the ground and slipped it back into the sheath, glancing at his hand which was slowly getting covered in blood. "Better go clean this up first."

Kal watched as he used his hood to help him float up into one of the trees and plucked a large leaf from the branch, wrapping it around the scar on his arm to stop the bleeding.

Deciding that she wouldn't be much help with first aid, Kal ran over to the edge of the island and jumped over to the far bank of the lake; it was so close she didn't even need to use her wings. She decided to see if she could find Ume around anywhere. The Shiba had been one of the Satomi canine warriors and had been teaching her a few battle moves that were a bit more dog-like. The exploding defecation move, however, she decided she'd rather not know…

Then suddenly she realised that the evil presence was still in the air. It seemed even stronger now. She felt a low growl rising in her throat. It was getting so powerful now it almost choked her.

Then there was a deafening roar that split through the air, making the ground tremble. This was definitely something big. Something very big. As she glanced up she realised that the sky was starting to turn black with dark, threatening clouds that didn't seem natural. Then over the cliff surrounding the forest a mist came, black as night, turning the ground behind it grey and colourless, devouring everything in it's path. There was only one thing it could be; a curse.

"Kal, run!"

Pushing her fear away, Kal glanced up to where Waka was on the tree branch, calling out a warning to her. As the curse engulfed the tree it was uprooted from the ground, and Waka was forced to teleport away in a cloud of sparks before he was thrown out.

Great. Convenient time for her collar to break. Now unable to copy the prophet's vanishing act, Kal glanced around, trying to find some means of escape. Her eyes came to rest on the entrance to Tsuta Ruins, which was wide open. Hoping that the curse wouldn't spread inside there, she unfolded her wings and sped towards the entrance.

Once inside she flew up to one of the ledges that lined the walls of the cave, landing heavily and trying to get her breath back. As she looked down she spotted some rabbit ears and recognised Kokari, Ume's owner, running towards the door. As he disappeared outside the door closed behind him.

"Oh, great!" she tutted. "The stupid kid's only gone and locked me in here."

Turning and jumping back into the air again, Kal flew over to the massive statue in the middle of the pool of water in the clearing ahead; she wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like there would be a good view from the top, so she could try and find an escape.

As soon as she landed, she felt the evil presence again. Since she had come into the ruins it had vanished, but now it was back. She glanced around in terror to see that the curse was flooding towards her once more, turning the clear water a murky dark purple. There was nowhere to run now.

The curse drifted up towards her, and she stood her ground. Perhaps she could get through it; after all, she was just a dog. But what did a curse actually do? It didn't really matter; there was no way of getting away from it now.

Then suddenly it was upon her, and much like the curse itself, everything went black.