This idea came to me after watching Princess Mononoke. It's really cool if not a bit gory at times. Plus there's a hidden message in there that isn't quite so hidden. If you try to kill the environment it'll try to kill you.

Forest Spirits

The first thing he felt was pain. It was a pounding in his head. It was a fire in his throat. It was a numbness in his limbs.

The second sensation he felt was on his cheek. It was smooth and cool. It felt like flesh; like a hand.

Akefia's eyes slowly opened. Up above he could see a canopy of leaves that blocked out the terrible brightness of the sun. Whoever the hand belonged to was not in his line of vision.

"Oh, you're awake," a soft voice said in a slightly surprised manner. Akefia made to sit up but the smooth hand moved from his face to his shoulder. "Don't move; you'll only aggravate your injuries," the soft voice said gently.

Akefia opened his mouth to ask a question but no sound came out. He licked his parched lips and tried to wet his mouth. The person above noticed this and moved away for a second. They soon returned with a cup full of water. Akefia felt a hand moved behind his neck to help tilt his head. The cup was pressed to his lips and life-giving water trickled down his throat.

When the water was gone Akefia raised his eyes to his saviour. He was quite surprised to see that the one helping him wasn't human. A boy with long white hair, pale complexion and bright green eyes looked down at Akefia. That may have sounded like the description of a normal human but Akefia could make out one detail that told him he was dealing with something else: the two cat ears twitching on the boy's head.

Akefia's head was put back down on the mass of leaves that were his pillow. The cat boy leaned over him slightly so that they could see each other properly. Akefia frowned. "Who?" he questioned simply since his throat was still not working properly.

"My name's Ryou," the cat boy said with a smile. He noticed Akefia's eyes lingering on his ears. "I'm a cat spirit. I found you unconscious in the forest; my home. I decided to help you and brought you back to my mate's territory. He wasn't too pleased about me doing that but I convinced him to let you stay."

"Who?"

A dark shadow appeared above Akefia as he asked the question. He tilted back his head to see another white haired boy with ears. They weren't cat ears though. Pointed ears, sharp fangs and blood red eyes told Akefia that this was another type of spirit.

The figure above sneered down at Akefia, effectively showing off his deadly fangs. "I am Bakura and you have been trespassing in my territory. Be thankful my mate has a soft heart or you would be dead by now," he growled.

Akefia nodded his head to show that he understood. Bakura accepted the acknowledgement and took a seat next to his mate. A pale hand with a tuft of white fur on the back wrapped around the cat spirit's waist, pulling him closer to the wolf spirit. Bakura then seductively ran his tongue up the side of Ryou's cheek. Ryou blushed and tried to wriggle from Bakura's grasp. "Should we really be doing this in-front of the human?" Ryou asked timidly.

Bakura growled. "You wanted to save him and you have. His presence will not stop me from touching you."

Akefia's eyes slid closed as the conversation between the two spirits continued. The world felt like it was spinning around him. Tiredness consumed him and he drifted away from the leafy forest around him.

When Akefia's conscious returned a jolt of pain spread through his body. His eyes shot open to reveal darkness. The pain continued, making his muscles tense. A gasp and then short, ragged pants escaped his lips.

There was movement not too far away; a rustling of leaves. Something crept closer in the blackness. Gentle fingers feeling the pulse at his neck, stroking it soothingly. "Does it hurt? Shall I give you some painkilling herbs?"

Akefia nodded. The fingers left his pulse and the music of leaves began again. A new verse of scraping was added to this natural song. Stone on stone? It sounded that way.

Glowing green eyes appeared in Akefia's vision. A hand slipped under his head to raise him. A stone bowl was pressed to his lips; a strange fluid dribbling into the injured one's mouth.

Akefia nearly choked on the vile substance. The taste disgusted him, made him want to wretch. Nevertheless he swallowed all of it; hoping the aftertaste would not linger for too long in his mouth.

Ryou removed the bowl and placed the human's head back on the pillow. "The herbs should work quickly. You'll be dazed but there'll be no pain."

Akefia could already feel the drug taking effect. The pain was retreating and numbness was setting in. His mind felt fuzzy. He'd experienced this before when he was truly drunk. For a second he wondered about the repercussions the next day but then a sense of carelessness overcame him. The drugs were definitely working their magic.

Ryou sighed as a vacant expression spread over the human's face. Behind him he could feel Bakura's burning eyes on them. His mate could be so jealous and protective sometimes.

Bakura crawled forward to sit besides Ryou. His eyes were trained on the human's face as he asked, "What did you give him?"

"Crushed Elkbalm seed mixed with Ashpension leaves," Ryou replied.

"He won't be any bother until midmorning then," Bakura said with a slight smirk. He reached out and ran his clawed hand through Ryou's silk-like hair. "Why did you save him? When he fell from his horse up on the cliff you could have left him. He is a worthless, destructive, polluting human after all. He deserves death."

"You don't know that," Ryou said quietly. "He might have been an innocent. He might have been on a religious journey and attacked by bandits."

"Don't be foolish," Bakura said harshly. "His armour shows that he is a soldier and those he travelled with were also soldiers. They are men with the blood of their own kind on their hands. I'll admit that not all humans are intentionally despicable – sometimes it is their stupidity that hurts nature – but soldiers are different. They deliberate kill and maim their own kind. They consider the bests in the forest to be savage but I have never met a wolf who deliberately killed his brother. Wolves don't wage wars with other wolves or with other species. Unlike humans they have retained their honour."

Ryou looked at Bakura with sad eyes. "Why do you hate humans so much?"

"I've just explained my reasons," Bakura said evasively.

Ryou got onto his knees and hugged Bakura. "They killed someone you knew didn't they?" he whispered.

"My best friend Marik. We spirits of the forest are supposed to be sacred to the humans and yet they killed one that was in no way aggressive towards them. All he did was go hunting for his meal and they killed him for it."

Apart from the natural sounds of the forest there was silence. Ryou's tail swished backwards and forwards as he thought over his mate's words.

Ryou froze as he felt something take hold of his tail. He turned to see that it was in the human's hand. Bakura followed his gaze and growled in a possessive anger. The wolf spirit would have ripped out the human's heart if Ryou hadn't held him back.

"Calm down Bakura! He's still drugged and doesn't know what he's doing!" Ryou cried as he tried to pull his mate away from his intended victim.

Bakura relented but continued to bare his fangs. The way the filthy human ran his thumb along his mate's tail infuriated him. How dare this piece of scum touch Ryou? How dare he even think of defiling Bakura's perfect mate?

Both sets of spirit ears perked up when they heard a quiet mumble. "It's alright Amane. Your big brother is here. You're going to get through this. Everything's going to be alright. Those men are gone. Someone will find us soon. Just hang on a bit longer. Please don't die on me Amane; don't die."

Ryou flashed the human a look of sympathy. He turned to Bakura with sad eyes. Bakura groaned when he saw the look in his mate's eyes. "I know that look. You want to change the plan don't you?"

"Why can't he stay with us until he's fully healed?"

"Because then he might be able to find his way back here and that will put us in danger."

"But surely he'd be so grateful that he wouldn't want to harm us," Ryou tried to reason.

"I don't care; I am not taking the chance that he will return with reinforcements. We will stick to the plan we agreed when you found him. He stays until he's able to move and then he's on his own," Bakura said with finality.

"Please Bakura," Ryou pleaded, his fingers trailing down his mate's chest. "There's no harm in healing him fully. Then you can blindfold him and drop him off at the edge of the forest. Please? Won't you do it for me?"

As Ryou leaned closer the cat spirit's intoxicating scent wafted towards Bakura, overpowering his senses and weakening his resolve. "But I don't want you to spend so much time looking after him – it detracts from the time you should be spending with me."

"I promise I won't be neglectful of your needs," Ryou whispered, pressing kisses to Bakura's neck.

Bakura growled in pleasure, leaning back to let Ryou give his argument. "Fine, you can keep the worthless human for longer. You owe me though."

Ryou kissed Bakura's lips, a gentle smile on his face. "I knew you'd come around eventually.

So Akefia remain in Bakura and Ryou's domain until he was fully healed. During that time he became good friends with Ryou and even managed to gain a small amount of approval from Bakura. Ryou told the human that he should be very proud of achieving that.

Once Akefia was no longer suffering from excruciating pain he had been taken off the drugs. His mind had returned to him and he had been able to form a relationship with Ryou while under the careful scrutiny of his mate. At first the conversations had been shaky but then all parties relaxed. Bakura had even contributed a few demeaning comments in these discussions.

Soon Akefia was ready to try and regain his ability to move about. It had been so long since he'd left his bed that he was stiff and his muscles needed to be retrained. Bakura had enjoyed laughing at the human as he stumbled face first into a heap of leaves. He had not enjoyed watching Ryou fuss over Akefia like he was a baby.

Now however the fun was over and it was time for Akefia to leave. Ryou had put on a fake smile to mask the sadness of loosing a close friend. Bakura had tried to retain his usual aloof manner but even he couldn't hide the tinge of regret in his eyes as Akefia walked out of the forest in the direction of a nearby village.

Akefia sighed as he looked back over his shoulder. He could no longer see the two spirits in the distance. It saddened him to think that he wouldn't be able to see them again. But that was how things were. Spirits and humans were supposed to remain separate. Neither trusted the other so it was unwise to try and retain contact with the spirits.

Still, it made Akefia sad to think that he'd never get to hear Ryou's soft laugh or Bakura's possessive growl. He already longed for the touch of the soft fur on the backs of their hands. He wished he could have one more wrestling match with Bakura to decide who really was the best. He wanted nothing more than to engage Ryou in one of their strange conversations.

Akefia stopped walking. He turned and sighed when he didn't see them standing there.

Suddenly, at the corner of his eye, he spotted a dot of white. Akefia changed course and headed towards it. He had no doubts about what he would find when he reached the small clump of trees. Ryou and Bakura were standing there, waiting for him. Before he could say anything Bakura thrust out a whistle towards him. "If you ever decide to come back to the woods blow this. Don't do it until you're into the thick part where less light shines through. It makes the special sound Ryou and I use to call each other. Blow it once (long and loud) and I'll come pick you up."

Akefia smirked. "What about that whole 'humans and spirits mustn't interact' speech you were always reciting?"

Bakura growled. "I'm only doing this because Ryou is too adorable for his own good at times. He's gotten attached to you and I'm not going to live with a miserable mate. So you better come back soon or I'll hunt you down, slit your throat and paint the forest with your blood."

Akefia's smirk remained intact as Bakura stormed off. Bakura would deny having feelings of any sort or degree for the 'worthless' human.

Ryou approached Akefia shyly. "I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to do out there and won't forget us."

"How could I forget the beautiful hands that saved my life?"

Ryou blushed. "Goodbye," he whispered before pecking Akefia's lip and dashing off after Bakura.

Akefia blinked before smiling. Ryou was too adorable for his own good. He turned and headed towards his original destination of the village. As he walked Akefia felt a warmth in his chest. It was sort of like the feeling he use to have when he was with his family, only stronger.

Akefia decided that he liked this feeling and no matter what happened he would soon return to the forest with stories to entertain his special spirit friends.

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