Before you read this story I'd like to say that I can't take full credit for this idea, I'd read a ghost hunt fanfic that was based on Beauty and the Beast and it was amazing. It made me think about starting my own one but with some very different ideas. I don't own ghost hunt or any of the characters in it, please rate and review. I'm hoping to get as many chapters up as possible and to those of you who are currently reading my other ghost hunt story I do apologise for not having anything put up in months I've been so busy! I'm so sorry ;_;

Beauty and The Tengu

Chapter 1 – Escape

Thump….thump….thump

The noise of the horse's hooves echoed throughout the murky forest, the girl tightened one of her hands around the reins while the other clutched her side. 'Come on, hurry up' she screamed in her head 'we have to get out of here before they catch up'. The horse slowed down while she turned her head to listen, she could no longer hear the angry villagers who had pursued her.

'Bastards! All her and her father had wanted to do was help them but instead they'd been attacked and forced out of town. Her father had sent her away first to try and get a head start but it hadn't ended well.' Pain shot through her side causing her to double over and her deep brown eyes to water. 'Keep going we can't stop here' she thought. Whipping the reins the horse sped up, flying through the undergrowth of the muddy forest and over a deep river, they continued to speed through the forest until the sky started to turn dark as the night drew in.

A high pitch howl startled Mai from her thoughts, her head snapped up while her eyes tried to adjust to the dark surroundings. Her horse startled underneath her, "It's alright girl, it was only a noise nothing to worry about" she said to try and reassure the horse. Another howl pierced through the night, Mai's horse let out a cry and bucked causing Mai to come flying off the back.

"OW" Mai said as she pulled herself off the ground to see her horse disappearing into the distance. 'Great now what?' She thought as she tried to hobble down the path the horse had taken, however in the dark Mai couldn't see very far. Deciding whether to risk it and sleep for the night or just keep pushing through until day light another howl cut through her and set her teeth on edge. Flinching she decided to keep going rather than fall victim to the villagers or worse the wolves… Sighing she kept trudging through the mud and trees.

Several hours later…

The morning sun was starting to peer over the horizon and giving the whole forest a subtle yellow glow to it. Mai's legs had started to feel like lead while she kept walking, contemplating sitting down for a few minutes of rest she heard a large screeching noise from close by. 'What was that?' She thought, fighting through some of the undergrowth to the side of the path Mai was trying to follow she found the source of the noise.

A huge pitch black raven had gotten itself stuck in amongst the bushes. It looked as if it had been stuck there for a few days as it's feathers were ruffled and it looked very skinny for a bird of its size. Mai could see that it had been caught by a few thorns which had pierced through one of its wings, 'poor thing must be terrified' she thought while wrestling to reach the bird.

Carefully Mai extended her hands to try and free the bird, the raven lashed out at Mai slashing her arm open and pushing her onto the ground. SCREEECHHHH the bird was now panicking, struggling back to her feet Mai approached the bird again "listen here, I've had a rough enough couple of days and the last thing I need is some over grown chicken making it much worse! Please sit still so I can help you!" She almost shouted at the raven. As if the bird was listening it stopped cawing and flapping around while Mai reached around to untangle it from the thorns. As soon as it was free the bird flew past Mai to perch on a nearby branch to examine its wing. "You see? That wasn't too bad was it? Now you can go home." Mai said breathlessly as the bird turned to look at her before taking off into the sky, 'at least one of us can go home'. Clutching her side and now bleeding arm she continued to walk through the bushes 'there must be a town nearby, I've been walking for a while now' she thought to herself…

After walking for felt like another life time Mai was starting to grow exhausted, she pushed past another pile of thorns to reveal the most stunning castle she'd ever seen.

It took Mai's breath away 'how could something this beautiful be hidden away in the valley?' the castle stood tall and proud, turrets and towers loomed tall over the various parts of the castle. Surrounding the building was what looked like miles of gardens, in front of Mai was a large stone arch, covered with frozen rose vines and two curved stone benches lay underneath. The whole castle and its grounds were covered in a layer of snow, 'strange the rest of the forest is still in late spring' Mai observed. To the far east of the castle lay a huge lake that seemed to spread on for miles, to the west a long and twisted hedge maze. Moving/slipping down the icy slope Mai fought with the exhaustion to make it to the front of the stone arch.

Panting and holding her now heavily bleeding side Mai sank down onto the cold bench. Sighing in relied as the cold stone cooled her burning, feverish skin. 'I just need to make it inside the castle, then I can rest' she thought to herself, however it was already too later, lying down on her side her vision started to slip in and out of focus. Before Mai completely lost consciousness she could her the faint sound of footsteps crunching snow and a bird cawing.