Chapter 1
Mikon
It had been six years since that day. Yasha had moved in with the village leader of Hayashi. He was a kind father figure, and was loved by everyone in the village; however he had died a year ago due to old age, so his daughter, Hana, became the leader in his place. Hana was the same age as himself, with short blonde hair. She wore a pale blue kimono with a yellow tie.
Under her leadership though, the village had changed. They now had to pay triple taxes and anyone who didn't pay up was usually exiled or forced to be her slave. It seemed that only Yasha was exempt from her rule and that was only because she liked him and refused to do any harm to him in anyway.
"Yasha!" she called, clinging to his green haori robe while playing with his black hair. He had long been aware of her affections for him and had told her multiple times that he wasn't interested but she kept ignoring him and also kept trying to get him to go out with her.
It had been six years to the day that he had found his village ruined.
The king had been harder in the village that year, and Yasha had volunteered to go out into the forest to catch some game for the village festival celebrating Hana's birthday. He was about to go when she pulled him aside and tearfully begged him not to go.
"Please don't go" she said through tears that Yasha knew were probably fake.
"I have to go, Hana" Yasha said, trying to pull away.
"But, if you go and don't return, then who will become my husband?"
"I already told you that I only like you as a friend and that we could never have a relationship together" Yasha said, using her stunned position to escape.
He never noticed the look she gave him, or the little stoppered vial full of green liquid that she bounced up and down.
Yasha ran through the forest, stopping only when the village was out of sight and all was quiet. A few birds chirped to each other, while he could hear a stream somewhere to his right. Squirrels chased one another in the tree branches while he stalked a nearby deer. Suddenly, a huge bang ricocheted through the forest and the next thing Yasha knew, he was running for his life, being chased by monster birds. They looked like huge ravens except they were bigger and they all had identical red plumage's behind their heads.
'How do I get myself into these messes?' Yasha asked himself as he came to a dead end.
He turned around and was about to start fighting back when suddenly, arrows started raining from the sky, all of them targeting the strange black birds.
The next thing he knew, a giant yellow cat with wings grabbed him and lifted him up to the tree tops beside another girl with long white hair and two dog ears poking out of her head.
"Can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I?" she muttered as he was dumped behind her.
"What?" Yasha asked as the last of the birds were killed by the unseen archer.
"Come on" the girl muttered, pulling Yasha to his feet.
"Who are you?" Yasha asked, not taking one step.
"I'm Mikon and this is Mini" Mikon replied, motioning to herself and then to the cat beside her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving your butt and besides I LIVE here" Mikon said as Mini transformed into a smaller version of herself.
Mini now looked like a winged kitten. She was light yellow with black stripes adorning her back and tail. Her white wings folded against her body while she scratched a green collar that Yasha could have sworn was sky blue a minute ago. Her yellow eyes stared at Yasha with an amount of curiosity that no animal should have.
"You…live in the forest?" Yasha asked, disbelieving.
"Yes" Mikon said as if it was the most natural thing in the most natural thing in the world. "Now, unless you want more birds to attack you, I suggest you come with us" she said, turning and walking away while motioning for him to follow.
"I'm expected back in the village soon though" Yasha protested weakly.
"Sure you can go back, I won't stop you, but let me ask you this; do you want to die?"
"WHAT?"
"While I was in the village earlier today, I overheard a girl with short blonde hair muttering about someone named 'Yasha' who had refused to become her husband and for that, she was going to poison his food tonight" Mikon said as Yasha followed her deeper into the forest.
"So…where are we going?" Yasha asked as they walked deeper and deeper into the Forrest.
"Home" Mikon replied as a huge tree came into view.
The tree was taller than the others surrounding it and also bigger as well. A hole was indented in its side while a small walkway spiralled around the tree to it.
"Is THAT your home?" Yasha asked in awe, pointing to the hole in the tree halfway up.
"No, this is" Mikon said, directing his attention to another cave in front of them, this one was made by the tree roots that surrounded it.
"Oh" Yasha said, following her as she moved inside the clump of roots.
They soon reached inside on the soft grass floor. Looking around, Yasha could see that where there was barely anything in the cavern. It was a modest sized cavern with natural light filtering through some of the smaller roots above them. On the left, there was a small cot covered with red sheets. The cot itself was oval shaped and it looked to have been carved from a dead tree branch. Next to it on the ground, lay multiple pillows with an emerald green sheet covering them.
Behind it on the wall, there were two indents carved from the root, each also made to look like a bed. On the top one, on top of the purple sheets was the stone that Yasha recognised the stone that had been found in the village ruins six years ago. He was going to ask about it but he though better of it and decided to leave it until later. Underneath the blue sheeted bed lay a brown bag and next to it, lay the bow and quiver pouch that he had lost six years ago. Again, Yasha decided to wait until later to ask about it. Looking to the other side of the cave, Yasha noticed a small stream running through the roots and out of the cave entrance. Next to the river, Yasha saw a black blanket with various utensils on it and behind that was a dark hallway.
Yasha was startled when the winged cat, Mini pounced but soon relaxed when she settled down on the fluffy green sheet and closed her eyes.
"Have some rest, you look like you need it" Mikon said as Yasha promptly moved to the red sheeted bed and fell asleep.
Dreams brooded in Yasha's mind as his tired body tried to heal from the strains it had been put under.
He watched as a girl with long black hair walked on a strange hard surface. Beside her walked a boy around the same age as her. He had long black hair and was wearing a red harori.
The girl looked to be wearing a uniform of some sort. She was clothed in a strange short sleeve kimono of some sort with a short sleeve top, skirt and bow around her neck. . The girl also had a strange yellow bag on their backs and was talking with the boy and seemed to be quite happy but he couldn't hear anything that she was saying.
Then suddenly a man leaped from the dark alley and pierced the boy through the heart with a silver knife. The dream clouded but not before he saw the girl crying over the body the man lent over her, blade still in hand when he was pushed back by a pink and blue power. The dream ended with the girl holding the boy, tears streaming down her face.