The little spirit grabbed the covers as tight as she could, letting out a horrible fit of coughs. The girl sitting in the chair beside her bed leaned forward, anxiously wiping the sweat away from her forehead. "I'm sorry I'm such a burden on you both," she croaked, opening her weary eyes.
The girl shook her head, biting her lip to keep it from trembling. A guy behind her was pacing around, staring down at his fists.
He painfully glanced at the girl who was still coughing. "What can we do, Lady Eika?" he insisted, his voice cracking. He stood by the girl in the chair, kneeling beside the bed. He took her sweaty hand, holding it with both hands. The girl who was taking care of the ill spirit gave a sorrowful glance.
"Find her," she finally whispered.
The two looked up, wondering what she was saying. Closing her eyes, she gave another cough. "Find her," she repeated. "Find the one... from the Human World... She will be the one... to... to..." Coughing again, the man held her hand even tighter.
As soon as she finished, she looked at their worried faces. "She will... be the one to... to save us all."
She sighed, closing her eyes. The guy briefly put her warm hand on his forehead for a second. He finally looked up, his eyes filled with determination.
Releasing her hand, he stood up, making his way to the entrance of the tent. "H-Hold on," the girl stuttered, standing up. "Are you really going to the Human World?" The guy turned his head, giving a nod. "If that is what Lady Eika has prophesized, then we should find that human."
Just as his hand was about to pull the tent away to leave, the girl stepped forward. Within the dim lit tent, he recognized her determined face.
"Then I'm coming with you," she declared. "We'll cover more ground if there's two of us." As he was about to open his mouth to protest, she shook her head.
"This camp hasn't been attacked for a while now," she pointed out. "Besides, these spirits are strong. Once we bring the human, we'll be even stronger." The spirit lying in bed nodded. "Bring her with you, Tadashi."
The guy closed his mouth, ruffling his hair. "Geez," he sighed, giving a little smile. "You really know how to push things." Lady Eika smiled, only to cough again.
The girl smirked, bidding farewell to the sick spirit. "Don't worry," she assured. "We'll find her for sure. Just sit tight, and the spirits will take care of you while we're gone." The spirit smiled, touching her cheek. "May you have a safe journey," she murmured.
"Pwahh! Puh pfff!" The girl spat out a leaf that flew into her mouth. The other two giggled as she scowled at the wet leaf. Giving a shudder, she hissed, "Ugh, I hate fall. Sure, leaves will start flying into your face, but I have no tolerance for leaves in my mouth!"
"At least it wasn't a fly like last time, Hitomi," the girl walking beside her snickered. As the girl began to scold her snickering friend, the third girl looked up at the sky. "Not to worry," she sighed, closing her eyes. "Winter is coming, isn't it?"
The two froze in the middle of their fight, giving excited smiles. "Oh, the snow is so beautiful!" the girl thought. "Making snow angels and building snowmen... Oh, and the cocoa! The hot chocolate is the best when you go back in!"
"What's more, Mai," Hitomi insisted. "Christmas! You get to have presents, and maybe some from a secret admirer!" Rolling her eyes as Hitomi and Mai squealed, she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Hey, Chihiro," Mai slyly smiled, nudging her shoulder. "You got his number, didn't you?" Hitomi gasped, punching her arm. "He didn't...?!" she gasped. "Chi, you're so popular with the guys! And the third one this month, eh?"
The teenager rolled her eyes, taking out the little folded paper. With his name on the top, he messily wrote out his number as if he was in a rush.
"I don't know if I should call him," she frowned, staring at the paper for a long time. Before the girls could snap at her, she pointed out, "I don't really know him. I mean, we only talked once for our research paper, but that's about it."
Mai shrugged. "I'd take the chance," she shrugged. "I mean, he's a part of the student council, and the captain of the soccer team. He's so cool whenever he's making those goals."
As she sighed dreamily, Hitomi scowled. "Then why don't you take his number then?" she snorted. "Seems like you're the one liking him."
As the two began to quarrel again, Chihiro stuffed the little paper back into her pocket. The three girls were in the same class in high school, always pestering Chihiro whenever she had gotten a confession. Their school uniform consisted of a simple black blazer and skirt.
The style of shirt, socks, and shoes were free for them to choose. Chihiro chose to wear a plain white blouse, as well as black knee high socks that were mostly covered up by her black boots.
When she had arrived in this town six years ago, she was just the typical shy girl in class. Once she finally opened up with her friends' encouragement, she became the star of her high school class.
She usually kept her hair down, her special hair tie always around her wrist whenever needed during cooking class or gym. Whenever she'd flip her hair or flutter her eyelashes, it seemed that the boys would melt at the sight.
"I'll see you guys over break," Chihiro waved, parting ways with her friends. As they waved back, she began to hike up the steep sidewalk. This is like another gym class for me, she panted.
As the road she walked along grew quiet, she finally made it to a small neighborhood. A couple was walking out of the neighborhood, carrying a cradle with their newborn baby. Another was approaching her mailbox, wondering if she had gotten any interesting mail.
One of her neighbors was sitting in his porch, rocking back and forth in his rocking chair. A little puppy perked up from its owner's lap, barking at the girl. The owner snored, unaware of her presence. She gave a little wave, passing the house with the barking dog.
Chihiro finally made it to the house on the left, opening the white fence. Even though the grass was trimmed nicely, the winter cold was slowly turning it into a light brown color. Closing the gate behind her, she walked up the steps and into her house.
"I'm home," she called out, setting her bag on the couch. She let out a sigh, sitting down beside it. "Oh no you don't!" a voice replied. "Stand up, missy. I'm almost done with cleaning, so you better help out!" The girl groaned, covering her face with her arm.
Much to her dismay, she stood up and found her mother in the kitchen. "I accidentally left the back door open this morning," her mother explained while cleaning out the oven. "All of the leaves your father piled by the chairs flew in. Will you sweep them out?"
She grabbed the nearest sweeper and dragged it behind her. "Thank you sweetie," she smiled sweetly. Chihiro sighed at the piles of leaves that had flown in from the wind.
Putting the sweeper in front of her, she began to brush the leaves out. As soon as she got half of the leaves out, she heard an unusual rustle coming from the forest. Chihiro looked up, clutching the broom tightly.
She stepped out, searching for the source. "Hello?" she called out. "Is somebody out there? Dad, we're not going to do this again!" When she was thirteen, her father had scared her on the night of Halloween by hiding in the forest.
Just as she was about to call out to the forest again, she heard a sudden high pitched cry of an animal. Startled, she ran back into the house. Hiding behind the window, she peeked out curiously. Was that a dog? A bird?
Another cry alerted her, making her wonder if it was an injured animal. Last summer, she and her mother had found an injured bird that had fallen from its nest. They carefully bandaged it and waited for the bird to heal before they could set it free.
Opening a cabinet, she finally found a little bag labeled First Aid Kit for Animals. Her mother was a vet, and always kept this in case any animals were injured around the neighborhood.
"I'll be right back, mom!" she yelled, swinging it over her shoulder. While running out of the house, she grabbed the broom in case anything would attack her. Taking a deep breath, she plunged into the dark forest.
Dodging the broken branches and jumping through the river of leaves, she heard the animal cry out again. Hold on, I'm coming! she thought.
Just as she was at a dead end with a clump of bushes in her way, she heard a series of rustles again. A dog with fierce teeth leaped over the bushes, giving her a dirty look as it ran off. Behind the dog came an animal Chihiro had never seen before.
It was a silver furred wolf, leaping over the bushes with a magnificent pose. Its silver fur rippled like waves through the wind, its steel blue eyes glancing over at the girl. Landing in the leaves, it growled, following after the dog.
"What... was that...?" she blinked, stunned for a moment. Right after the wolf had jumped, so did a small fox. It was much smaller than the wolf, barely visible with its dark auburn and black fur blending with the dark forest. As it leaped over the bushes, it gave a pained expression. Is that the animal that cried out?
Even though it looked like a safe landing, the fox stumbled into the leaves, squealing in pain. Just before another dog and hawk could get the wounded fox, Chihiro held onto the broom as tight as she could and smacked the dog into the bushes.
With a yelp, the dog disappeared into the bushes. The hawk flew off, squawking at the girl and flapping its wings at her.
"Run!" she insisted to the surprised fox. Giving an unexpecting nod, it scrambled up and followed after the wolf. The dog she had hit popped its head out of the bushes, growling at the startled girl.
"Ehehe," she chuckled nervously. She backed away slowly, only to hit a tree. "N-Nice doggy," she coaxed, hoping the dog would not attack her.