Chapter 3

Hayume

Hayume crept out of the house, tasting the dawn air. She ran up the slope that lead to the River of the Heavens. She stopped to look in the pool. She was a young brown dog wolf, with green eyes. She sighed. Why did she have to be a dog? She had to stay in the village with her mother, while her two younger siblings lived in the forest with her father, Ume. She longed to live in the wild like him, to learn to hunt and live under the stars. The village was boring, with not many other dogs. But there was someone who could teach her to be a wolf.

She broke away from the pool and carried on running, careful to go around the gate that lead to the great tree, Konohana. She had only met the wood sprite Sakuya a few times, but she was sure that she wouldn't want her going where she was going.

She enter the portal and ran through the field, crossing the bridge. She stood on the other side, waiting for him, when suddenly she heard someone behind her. She turned, but barely caught a glimpse of dark fur before the wolf leapt at her. She growled and rolled away. The wolf sat down and looked at her, blue eyes sparkling, the most gorgeous wolf she had ever met. She narrowed her eyes. "You nearly had me, Ko."

He grinned. "I'll get you next time." Then his grin faded slightly. "Why didn't you come yesterday?"

She frowned. "I couldn't get away. Had to guard the chickens."

Ko snorted. "Chickens? They don't need guarding, they need eating!"

"Ko, you know that I'll get kicked out if I eat the chickens." He was always saying things like this, almost as if he wanted her to be thrown out of the village.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, let's hunt!" he turned and raced towards the Cave of Nagi.

"Wait, Ko!" she cried, chasing after him. What he really meant was that he would hunt, and she would watch. He was trying to teach her, and she was getting better at small animals, but anything bigger than a goose and she was hopeless.

She found him in a clearing, gazing at the river of starlight in wonder. "Isn't it beautiful?" he whispered.

She nodded. Like your eyes, she thought. "Let's go back to Konohana. You know we can't cross the River." They had tried before, but just got swept back. They knew that a cave with a huge statue of the great Nagi lay beyond, but they had never seen it.

Ko turned back towards her. "Its winter." He complained. "There's nothing decent to eat here. Hayabusa says that all the large prey has gone, to the Field and Forest."

She looked away. She knew what he was asking. He was going hunting with Haya, away from the village, to hunt in the wild. And he wanted her to go with him.

But her mother wanted her to stay in the village. Suddenly, she felt a flash of rebellion. "What about the deer herd?" the words came tumbling out before she could stop them. The village kept a small deer herd, which they sacrificed on the day of the festival.

Ko gaped at her. "But they belong to the village! We can't kill them, the villagers would go mad!"

She narrowed her eyes cunningly. "Well, its the Festival in two nights, so they kill three deer anyway, and they'll be too drunk on sake to notice another one missing."

He nodded. "Ok, I'll meet you at Konohana in two nights then. " they touched noses, then she turned and made her way back down to the village.

She walked past the small hut where Mushi lived. He was standing in the doorway, and ran to her. "Hayabusa!" he cried.

She sighed deeply. Mushi always got confused between her and Hayabusa. Everyone did, because they looked so alike. Mushi's mother walked in, carrying a basket of turnips that she put down on the table. "Mushi, that's Hayume, not Hayabusa. Hayabusa has a purple scarf, remember? And he's been missing since midday yesterday."

Hayume pricked up her ears. Her uncle was gone? She had thought that he was hunting the day before. Mushi's father had came into the village late, and she had been half asleep and thought Hayabusa was with him.

But where was he? Had he gone to visit her father? Anger spiked through her pelt. Why hadn't he taken her! She slumped down near the door of her own hut to guard, huffing angrily, before she drifted off to sleep.