Yuki waited a few moments to confirm whether or not she actually heard a bird talking, or if her ears were simply ringing. Suddenly, said bird was "talking" again. "Can you please tell me your full name?" The goldfinch's beak was not moving, yet she did not see anything else talking to her. Suspiciously, Yuki began walking closer and closer to the bird to see if she were still hallucinating. "A tad close, aren't we?" The bird tilted its head as it flapped its wings. "Uh…" Yuki still stood there with an awfully dumbfounded look.

"You are more than likely wondering: 'How is this bird talking to me? Have I gone mad?' But I assure you, you are quite sane, hopefully. Now will you please tell me your name?"

"Um...My name is Kaai Yuki...uh...how areyou talking to me?" She scratched her cheek as she looked around to see multiple passerby looking at her strangely. "Hmm...How would I explain something so odd to you?" The bird looked up as though pondering. "Well, instead of wasting too much time on chatter, I'll just show you." The bird flew off the sign, landing gently. The green light Yuki thought she saw before was surrounding the bird, but now it was much brighter. The same moment she saw the bird at its brightest, an adolescent boy appeared in its place. Yuki looked up at this person who was about a foot taller than her. His hair was yellow and brown, like the colors of his bird form. He wore a yellow shirt with striped sleeves and a dark-brown vest atop it, and his pants were matching in color with the vest; his choice in footwear was red sneakers. "Well then, 'Kaai Yuki', I guess I should tell you I'm a magic user" The boy gave a half-hearted smile. "You can call me James"

I still feel like I've gone crazy... Yuki looked up at James, feeling quite apprehensive.

"If you don't mind, walk with me. Don't worry, I won't bite." James joked as he gestured for her to follow him. Even though Kiyoteru had warned her about talking to strangers, Yuki could not help but follow this odd person. If she had to guess, this was definitely a foreigner she was dealing with. He looked down at her as they walked and began to ask mildly suspicious questions. "Kaai, where are we located? What country?"

"Um...we're in Japan, James-san." She responded, wondering how on earth he wouldn't know what country he was in. He's definitely a foreigner she mentally confirmed. "Do you have a family?" The foreigner in question asked Yuki.

"Sort of…not by blood, but I have many I love just like family." Yuki answered honestly, though she had wanted more to ask how James could transform, for it still left her clueless.

"I see" was all that the strange person had said. Why can't I think of anything to say to him? Yuki thought as they continued walking. Aside from nailing him down with rude questions, Yuki did not know what to do with this teenager who called himself James. Instead, she had merely been staring at him as they walked.

Without warning, James had abruptly stopped; Yuki continued to face him directly. James made a cursory glance at the young girl, and then quickly looked up at a tree in front of them. "Stay here, please" he muttered in a virtually inaudible tone; Yuki barely heard him speak. What is with his sudden change in mood? Yuki involuntarily twitched as James proceeded near the tree. She watched him as he gazed upwards at the tree, as if it were a spectacle. Once again the signature, blinding, light-green radiance occurred; James was once again a bird. This time he was a goldfinch only for the few seconds it took for him to fly up the tree. He returned to a humanly state shortly after landing. There's no way I'm the only one that sees this right? Yuki looked around and realized that not only were people acting ignorant, she was also located in the Central Park area. I hope this ends quickly…Hiyama-sensei will be mad at me if I stay out too long! Yuki fidgeted in place until James called her out. "Kaai…" James started solemnly, contradicting his earlier mood.

"You can call me Yuki" she interrupted. James' awfully awkward pronunciation of her surname nearly made her upset, but it takes a lot for the young girl to display negative emotion.

"…Yuki…"James then continued. "Even though you think we have not met before, I want to ask you a favor. For this to be done, I have to take you to a certain place…"

"What place?" Yuki asked, slowly backing away. She recalled being warned about situations like this in school; she was making herself a potential victim of whatever James had in store for her. "I'm sorry, James-san" She gave a small bow. "But I have been away too long. My friends are probably looking for me now. I'm sorry—uh, bye!" She ran back towards the direction of the rest stop, not caring that multiple people were showing concern as to why she had been talking "to herself" for so long. James watched her flee from the height of the tree branch, sighing. This may be my only chance. He held out his hand, as though trying to reach her, and said with his eyes closed: "Forgive me for forcing this burden upon you".

Suddenly, Yuki felt immense sickness. Her head and limbs ached, and her eyes felt as though burning. Her surroundings became indistinct as the infamous yellow-green brilliance appeared again. This time, she could not see what was causing it, nor anything else but circling lights, excruciatingly penetrating to the eyes. In recoil, the helpless young girl covered her eyes as the lights grew brighter and brighter, until the point that they almost shone through her hands. She felt like crying, but the tears more than likely would have burned her eyes at this point. She merely shuddered in fear, until everything became pitch dark.

Yuki.

Yuki...

Yuki!

"Wha...?"She progressively stopped shuddering; her body was fairly cold. Slowly, Yuki removed her hands from in front of her face; James was looking down at her, concern faintly visible on his face. "Good, you got over it quickly. For a second I thought I would have to deal with another invalid."

"What do you mean by that?" Yuki asked, standing up and offended by the term 'invalid'.

"If you were either mentally or physically hurt, it would've been a burden to deal with you." James replied nonchalantly. "Dealing with this situation is a burden to me." Yuki muttered to herself, hoping James did not hear her. "Umm...so where am I? Where are we?"

"We're not in Japan anymore" James said with a provoking tone, but Yuki did not let that get to her. "More detail please?" Yuki, exaggerating her 'little girl' voice, was beginning to use sarcasm quite effectively.

"We just happen to be in a small town: an uninhabited one, in the United Kingdom. Is that enough detail for you? If not, just look around." James gestured to all of their surroundings with his arm; Yuki began to finally acknowledge her new environment.

The feeling was rather desolate. Contradicting the nice afternoon she was in a mere few minutes ago, the town was as dark as night. The houses were empty and appeared pitch black on the inside; with James not talking, it felt as if the whole world had gone silent. The eerie scenario led Yuki to shiver more than the occasional chilling breeze had. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked, feeling scared.

"Because trying to ask you in Japan seemed to encourage you enough to try and flee"

"Oh. If that's all, we can go back." Yuki was visibly scared at this point, for her smile was quite nervous, and her body was slightly twitching. "We're not going back. I see no point since I would have inevitably brought you here anyway." James began to walk towards a nearby tree. Yuki reluctantly followed. For the umpteenth time, a hideous flash occurred, making Yuki flinch; after a moment had passed, she looked up and saw him as a bird on a tree.

"Will you tell me the real reason why you brought me here now?" The young girl was growing impatient with the bird's stalling.

"You'll get your answer soon enough; you'll regret asking for it." The bird chirped; Yuki gulped as he finished his answer. What on Earth is happening? Am I gonna die or what? If Yuki were human, she would have been sweating out of fear by now. Every passing second made her feel like she was going crazy. To break the terrible silence, a piercing whistle was heard; James flew off the tree, heading to the sound's source.

"You should probably follow me. This isn't a place you want to get lost in." James had said before leaving, yet Yuki was still hesitant to do as he instructed.

I almost wanna cry...My picture's gone and I'm definitely not getting my ice cream now! What's worse…I know being here is dangerous, but do I even have a choice?

Yuki shook her head, knowing that timid thoughts would get her nowhere. The only direction that could be taken was forward, to the sound and the current source of her misery.

Without wasting another moment, she ran towards her uncertain future.

Remember: Please leave a critique on my writing and a general opinion of the story.

Spotting out errors and telling me about them would be appreciated too.