I wrote this last fall but forgot to post it. A recent lecture on Animal Bride tales made me think of it.
When Yuuki was little, Kaname told her stories about hunters who stole the skins of swan maidens and forced them to live as human women. Yuuki would cry for the poor, trapped girls—they were always so sad to be kept away from their families and their true selves—while the Chairman—Father gave Kaname strange looks.
Though she could not put it into words, Yuuki knew the feeling that the rest of her was hidden, if she could only find it. So when Kaname gave her back her skin, she slipped it on and flew away from her hunters.