Hunting Dogs

By: SilvorMoon

Once again, Sora walked in the fog. There was a path under her feet of hard-packed gray earth, and the trees were gray-barked. If their leaves were green, they were too high above her and too dimly lit to be seen. All she could see were varying shades of gray, brown, and black. She was following the road, trying to get back home.

The path in front of her diverged, splitting neatly in two. Sora stared at it, trying to remember which way was the right way. One fork had led her back to the village; the other led to the old woman's hut. Which way should she go? Which way?

Something flickered in the fog, like a pale silvery light. It enticed her forward, and she took the left-hand path and began to walk. She realized almost instantly that she had gone the wrong way, that the trees were getting darker, growing closer together. With their squat trunks and gnarled limbs, they looked like nothing more than so many multi-limbed beasts, hunkering down as they prepared to spring. Sora was frightened of them, and yet she found that she could not turn herself away from them. Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and they kept walking closer and closer to the flashing light...

Suddenly, standing before her was the old woman's hut. It had to be - she knew it was - but it looked wrong. It looked black and decayed, like an abandoned, half-burned out building, left to rot in years of rain and ready to collapse. The woman stood before it, but she was no longer the kindly old lady Sora remembered. Her face was drawn and skull-like, her hair wild, her body bent and twisted, her eyes glowing with a strange greenish light. The cane she leaned on had a strange look to it, and Sora realized with a shock that it was not a stick at all, but an old bone carved with strange markings. Dogs slunk about her, black as shadows, with glowing red eyes and blade-like ridges down their spines. Sora stared in horrified fascination, and then began to turn and run, knowing she had to get away before it was too late. Then she heard footsteps behind her, soft as a sleeping child's breathing, but somehow clearly audible in the silent forest. Sora turned towards them, knowing already what she was going to see.

It was the Gray Man. His eyes blazed more brightly than ever, and in his hand, he bore a long, slender tree branch, still tipped with a spray of young green leaves. He walked past Sora without acknowledging her, all his attention fixed on the old hag and her dogs.

"Who are you?" the crone demanded in a rasp of a voice. "What do you want with me?"

"You know who I am, and what I want," he said. "I have been sent to put you and your kind in your places. Tell me your name, crone."

"You wouldn't understand it if I told you," she sneered. "Go away. You're as green as spring grass, compared to me."

"Tell me your name!" the Gray Man repeated. He thrust out the staff, pointing it at her, and she cringed away.

"Ssss," she hissed. "Call me False Turning, then."

"And what are these creatures?"

"These are Dead Ends."

"False Turning, what was your business here today?"

"Whatever it was, it was my own, and none of yours."

"It is my business. You will tell me, or I will compel you to tell me."

The crone's manner turned servile. "You wouldn't torment an old lady for doing her own work, would you? I just saw something strange moving in the forest today and thought I'd have a closer look at it, is all. I meant no harm, no harm at all."

"You lie," he said. "You lured an innocent girl who was nowhere near your domain off the path and nearly had her in your home, and she never would have come out alive. Do you deny it?"

"I had to," said False Turning sullenly. "There was a strange power around her. I had to see for myself what her nature was. It was self-defense."

"It was greed, I think. You wanted that power for yourself, before any of the greater spirits could find her, isn't that so?"

She hissed again. "What of it? It's about time I had a little something of my own!"

"You had no right to do it," said the Gray Man. "Now you will be punished."

"That I will not!" she answered. "Get him, my pets! Show him not to bite off more than he can chew!"

The hideous hounds leaped for him, and Sora tried to scream as she saw them lunging for his throat, but her voice didn't seem to want to work...

The Gray Man whipped his staff at them, striking them with its leafy end. The blow barely had enough strength behind it to swat a fly, much less drive off a ravening dog the size of a bear, but incredibly, the dog he struck went flying through the air more than ten yards. It smacked into a tree, and there was a snap as its back broke. It whimpered and lay still. The other dogs backed away as the stick swung back the other way, whimpering as if the leaves that touched them were flame rather than foliage.

"Don't just stand there, you miserable whelps!" the hag shrieked. "Get him! Get him! Circle him and strike him!"

Goaded by the sound of their mistress's voice, the four remaining dogs tried to obey, but the Gray Man was quicker. He whirled in a tight circle, battering dogs left and right. One met its end the same way as the pack leader, slamming into a tree and cracking its skull, and it fell dead without even a whimper. Another was dealt a glancing blow and hobbled off with a leg broken. The third, quicker than the rest, managed to snap his jaws onto the Gray Man's cloak, throwing him off-balance. He planted the end of his staff into the earth and shouted something, and rings of something like fog made solid rolled away from him, shoving the dogs away and sending them spinning through the air as if they'd been lifted by a tornado, scattering them around the clearing, where they fell, dazed and whimpering. The Gray Man began to advance, and they scattered, running off into the foggy forest with their tails between their legs. The crone stared, uncomprehending.

"How did you do that?" she croaked. "You - you're no spirit. How could you do that?"

"I am more than a spirit," he said. "Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water obey me, and you too must do my bidding, or face the consequences."

The old woman stared at him with an expression of dawning comprehension. "But that - that means you're - but I hadn't thought there were any..."

"You have overstepped your boundaries, hag," he said. "It is my duty to punish you. I will now send you back to the heart of the mountain from which you were born."

"No!" she begged. "Please, great one, have mercy on an old woman..."

"Too late," he said. "By the power that is given to me..."

He raised his branch, and there was a tremendous rush as of a mighty wind, and all other words he said were lost. Sora felt a powerful pressure wash over her, and she closed her eyes tightly...

When she opened them, she was lying in bed with the sun shining through her window.

"That," she said, "was way too weird."

"Good morning, Sora!" Piyomon chirped happily. "You overslept. That's okay. Your dad did, too. He's gone now, but he left you a note."

"Oh," said Sora. She was still feeling somewhat groggy after the intense dream. She couldn't even remember how she'd wound up here in her bedroom in the first place - her last memory was of sitting in the living room after dinner, reading one of the books she'd brought with her, listening to the comforting sound of her father going over his notes nearby. After that, things were a blur.

"Where's the note?" she asked.

Piyomon proffered a piece of paper. Predictably, it had been torn from her father's trusty yellow notepad, and the writing on it was the familiar thin, spidery, slightly untidy script her father always used.

Dear Sora, it read, you fell asleep last night while you were reading, so I took the liberty of putting you to bed. I haven't had to do that since you were a tiny little thing. I hope your arm is feeling better. If it gives you any trouble, don't suffer in silence, tell me. Anyway, I've got some contacts in town I wanted to check up on, so I'll be there most of the morning. If you wake up before noon, come down and have lunch with me. I'll be waiting at the pizza parlor. There's only one, so you won't be able to miss it. If you oversleep, I'll probably be home by then, so disregard this note.

Sora laughed. That was her father from beginning to end, all good intentions and disorganized thoughts. However, reading his note did remind her of the episode the previous day with the dogs. She carefully peeled off the bandages on her arm, dreading what she might see, but it seemed to have healed up as well as could have been expected in such a short amount of time. The swelling had gone down considerably, and while it didn't look pretty, it didn't hurt at all. Whatever the smelly stuff her father had given her was, it obviously worked. Just to be sure, she rolled up her jeans to check her leg, noticing as she did so that she was still wearing jeans - still slightly stained from her trek through the woods. The thought that she'd been wearing her mud-, blood-, and sweat-stained garments all night long was a bit of a shock to her domestic nature. Getting a little sweaty playing sports was one thing, but not getting cleaned up afterwards was another thing altogether. She glanced at her watch and discovered that it was a few minutes after ten.

"What do you think, Piyo?" she asked. "Would a bath sound good before we go to town?"

"Yeah!" Piyomon cheered.

That was enough for Sora to make up her mind. She hopped out of bed and began making her way towards the bathroom. On her way there, just on an impulse, she stopped to look out the window. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There certainly wasn't any thick gray fog. There were no strange gray men, either.

She shook her head and turned her attention to the mission at hand. Before Piyomon had moved in permanently, Sora's idea of the best way to start the day had usually involved a hot shower. Piyomon had changed that. Like any other bird, her idea of the best way to get clean was to find a suitable body of water - not too shallow, not too deep - and splash in it. She didn't care for the idea of showers, so Sora had adjusted. Now she took baths with the shower curtain drawn tightly around the tub so Piyomon could splash to her heart's content.

On a day like this, a soak in a hot tub felt good to her, too. She'd bruised herself in several places when she'd fallen off her bike, and strained a few muscles in her struggle to escape, and she was stiff and sore all over. She stripped off her grungy clothing and lowered herself carefully into the tub, gritting her teeth as the hot water made her wounded leg sting. It wasn't pleasant, after a pain-free night, to wake her injuries up again, but she reminded herself sternly that her arm had to stay clean if it was going to get well and forced herself to put it into the water as well. It hurt fiercely, as she'd known it would, but the pain quickly subsided, and the heat began to feel soothing rather than painful. She allowed herself to sink back into the water and let her mind wander.

*I still feel awfully sore. I wonder if I had better not just stay here and wait for Dad to come home. I shouldn't risk hurting myself again...*

Something in her gave a guilty twinge, and she frowned. Who was she trying to fool? She knew she was well enough to go into town if she wanted to; the ride down the trail was an easy one, all downhill, so that she would hardly have to pedal at all. What was really bothering her was a lingering fear, fear of...

...It ran down the trail as fast as it could, sniffing frantically, its slimy wet nose pressed to the ground as it followed the trail. It could smell her blood on the still earth, unmistakable on ground where humans seldom set foot. As long as it had her scent in its nostrils, it would follow her to the end of the earth, and then it would pounce and tear and shred and...*

Sora's eyes snapped open. She'd had no idea she'd closed them, before then, and she looked around to get her bearings. Had she been dreaming again?

*I'm still rattled,* she told herself. *I guess that's only natural, after being attacked by a bunch of wild dogs. No wonder I'm having crazy nightmares.*

"Hey, Piyomon," she said, "did you have any dreams last night?"

"Yeah," she said. "I dreamed you and I were in a karaoke contest. Some of the others were there, and they kept complaining it was their turn to sing and trying to take the microphone away. Then Mimi and Miyako got in a fight over it, and then I woke up."

Sora smiled a little. "Sounds like your dreams are a lot more fun than mine."

"Really?" asked Piyomon. "What did you dream?"

"About that old lady, and those dogs," said Sora. "And someone else was there - a man all in gray, with gray hair and gray eyes."

"A gray man," Piyomon murmured. "That sounds kind of spooky."

"He is, a little," said Sora. "This is the second time I've dreamed about him - I saw him yesterday, too. I mean, I dreamed him, but it was just like I had seen him. Does that make sense?" Piyomon shook her head. Sora shrugged and went on. "Anyway, he's spooky, sort of, but he's not scary like the dogs were scary. He doesn't scare me at all. He's just like... like I feel when I look at the fog on the mountains. Like he's something really old and really powerful, somebody very wise and strong who could be really dangerous if I made him angry. But he's never angry at me. I'm not really sure, but I think he's on my side... if he's on anyone's side. He doesn't want to hurt me anyway. I'm sure he could, but he never does."

"You're talking about him like you think he's real," said Piyomon dubiously.

"Maybe I'm crazy," said Sora. "Maybe it's something in this mountain air. It's just... I've never had dreams like these before. They seem real... I couldn't tell anyone but you about this kind of thing, though. They'd all think I'm crazy."

"Tell your dad," Piyomon encouraged. "He won't think you're crazy."

Sora gave a whimsical laugh. "True! Dad never thinks anyone's crazy, not even those people who claim to have seen Elvis in the Speed-E-Mart."

Piyomon giggled. "Maybe they did!"

"Maybe you're right," said Sora, smiling. "All right. I guess I'll tell dad about them when he gets home."

"Aren't we going for pizza?" Piyomon asked plaintively.

"Well... I guess we should, but..." Sora blushed. "I'm kind of scared."

"Scared? Of what?"

"Oh, it's stupid," said Sora. "I just keep feeling like last time I went down to the village, something really bad happened, so if I go down again, something bad will happen again. Maybe I'm just being silly, but..."

"I don't think you're being silly," said Piyomon. "We won't go if you don't want to. I can wait. Maybe your dad will bring some pizza back with him."

That made Sora feel guilty. She was being childish, disappointing her father and her partner just because she was a little scared of something that probably wasn't going to happen at all. Hadn't she always said that she'd go through anything to be able to spend more time with her father? She had to be crazy, passing up an opportunity like this because of a silly nightmare.

"I didn't say I didn't want to go," she told Piyomon. "We'll just keep our eyes peeled for stray dogs, that's all."

"Yippee!" Piyomon cheered. She fluttered her wings, spraying water and soapsuds in all directions, and Sora squeaked as she was spattered with droplets and wet feathers. "Let's hurry up so we can go!"

Sora did pick up her pace. She dried herself off quickly, found some clean garments, and hastily brushed out her hair. Once she was presentable, she headed out to the front porch to check on her bike. It was right where her father had propped it, leaning rather lopsidedly against the steps. It looked somewhat the worse for wear after its trip through the woods - it was very muddy, and dead leaves were sticking to it in places. Thankfully, her father appeared to have had the sense to take her groceries in and put them away, so at least the food hadn't been left out all night to spice the diet of the local woodland creatures. Sora frowned at the dirt on her formerly shiny vehicle and brushed it off a bit before giving the job up as hopeless. She told herself it wouldn't matter if it was clean or not, as she was about to take it back into the woods anyway, and at the same time, wondered if there might be a hose around here she could spray it with. She resolved to ask her father, when she saw him.

They set off down the trail, but at a much slower and more careful pace than they had used the day before. Both of them were continuously looking this way and that, ever on the watch for trouble. Despite her resolutions not to be spooked, Sora found herself turning to stare every time she heard the wind sigh in the trees or an animal rustling in the forest. Each time, she told herself it was nothing, and turned her eyes back to the road, but whenever she heard a new noise, she found herself turning to stare again.

The oddest thing was that, after a while, she became convinced that it wasn't just her imagination that was telling her something odd was afoot. About a quarter of the way down the trail, she was sure she saw something gliding swiftly alongside her, trotting through the underbrush, just out of her clear sight. It was brownish in color and moved like an animal, and when she listened carefully, she could hear the softest of pad-pad-padding noises, as of an animal's footsteps. It moved as she moved, exactly keeping pace with her. It never came any closer, but it never went any further away, either.

"Do you see that?" Sora whispered.

"See what?" Piyomon whispered back.

"That thing. The one moving just off the path. It's following us."

"I don't see anything."

"It's right there!"

Sora pointed, and the thing seemed to jump, and vanish into thin air.

"Okay, it isn't there," said Sora. "I think I scared it, whatever it was."

"Probably just an animal," Piyomon said. "Don't worry about it."

Sora thought she heard a frown in the bird's voice, though it didn't show on her face (Piyomon's beak wasn't made for frowning, anyway). From the tone, Sora guessed that she thought her partner was seeing things that weren't there. Sora couldn't blame her; she wasn't completely sure she'd seen the thing herself. With a sigh, she leaned on her pedals and pressed the bike to roll a bit more swiftly. Even so, she was sure that somewhere behind her, she could hear the steady pad-pad-padding of an animal's feet...

*Whoever or whatever you are, just don't bother me,* she told it silently. *You can follow me all you want as long as you don't give me any trouble. If you do, I'll - I'll send the Gray Man to do for you like he did to those dogs!*

Almost as if it had heard her, the padding stopped, and Sora found herself looking down at the village. An unaccountable relief swept over her. She could hardly imagine something bad happening to her as long as she was surrounded by other humans.

"We're almost there, Pi!" she said. "Let's go!"

She put on a final burst of speed, and they rolled down the hill at top speed until there were too many people in her way to dodge. She slowed to a gentle roll, and then halted altogether so she could dismount and walk. A few people waved at her in a familiar fashion as she passed.

"Now to find the pizza parlor," she said. "It's got to be around here somewhere... How many stores can this place hold, anyway?"

They began walking slowly up the street in the direction Sora guessed was the most likely. As they walked, she peered at the buildings, trying to fix them all in her memory. She wanted her mental map of this town completed as quickly as possible, so she couldn't lose herself again. It pleased her to see that things were already starting to look familiar to her: there was the butcher's shop and the general store her father had mentioned, and there was the grocery where she'd bought the cake and the vegetables, and there was the restaurant where the kind woman had fed and bandaged her, and there...

Sora stopped walking. Piyomon, who had been trotting along at her heels, ran into her and nearly fell over.

"What did you stop for?" she asked.

Sora pointed. "Do you see what I see?"

Piyomon looked. In front of her were two houses. They were ordinary-looking houses, with flower boxes out front, decorative curtains in bright colors adorning the windows, and lines with laundry flapping in the back yards.

"I don't see anything," said Piyomon.

"Neither do I," said Sora. "That's what bothers me."

"I don't get it."

"I remember these houses," said Sora. "I remember seeing those checkered curtains there, and those purple flowers in the window. I remember that red roof. I saw these houses yesterday. We walked by them yesterday. This is where the path was."

"What path?"

"The wrong one," she said. "The one we took to get to the old woman's house."

"But there isn't a path here now," said Piyomon, looking very confused.

"Exactly."

There was a pause as Piyomon tried to work through that.

"Maybe these aren't the same houses," she suggested. "We don't know our way around very well... Maybe they just look like the ones you remember."

"Maybe," said Sora. "And maybe something very strange is going on here."

Once again, she recalled her dream of the Gray Man and the old crone. What had she called herself? False Turning? Could that have something to do with the missing trail - the one that had seemed to change even as she was walking on it? Was that why it had forked into two trails when she'd been sure she had only seen one? Or was she just going crazy?

None of the possibilities were very appealing.

They continued their journey until they saw the sign of the pizza parlor waving in the breeze. It was a tiny little restaurant being run out of the downstairs floor of somebody's house. A large picture window let the sun shine in on the dining area, which was just barely large enough to hold eight tables of varying sizes and shapes, obviously consisting of whatever could be scrounged up. The chairs were likewise mismatched - some wooden, some metal, some with cushioned seats, some that could be folded up and put away on a slow day. Someone had gone through the trouble of trying to achieve some measure of consistency by covering all the tables with matching green plastic tablecloths, but they failed to conceal the overall air of incongruity. Nevertheless, the hodgepodge of furniture and general scruffiness served to give it a comfortable, inviting feel that obviously must have helped the rest of the town accept something as exotic as a pizza parlor. All of the tables were full.

Sora parked her bicycle outside and threaded her way through the crowded restaurant, savoring the smell of cooking food that hung thickly on the air. The room was full of happy customers, but thankfully, most of them seemed to be too intent on their food to worry about the redheaded girl being followed by an oversized bird. The pair dodged past them as quickly as they could, making their way to a small table in the corner where Professor Takenouchi sat, shuffling through his collection of research tools.

"Hi, Dad!" she greeted him. "Look, I made it up, after all!"

He greeted her with a warm smile. "So you did. You look much better than you did yesterday."

"I feel better," she said. She began rearranging some of the odds and ends stacked on the table in front of her; it would be hard to eat when the space her plate should have occupied was filled with scraps of paper, a camera, a tape recorder, several audiotapes, and three notebooks in varying colors. "Did you get any work done today?"

"Not as much as I would have liked," he answered with a grimace. "So far it seems like everyone I've talked to either doesn't know what I want to know, or they aren't talking. What little I've scrounged up is mostly hearsay. That doesn't help me very much. Still, I did find time to work on one or two other projects while I was down here, so it wasn't a total loss."

"Good," she said. She laughed a little. "Mom would be pretty mad if I told her you were out here doing nothing."

He smiled and laughed with her, but she thought his laugh sounded a bit forced. "Perhaps we'll give her a call this evening."

"Can we eat now?" asked Piyomon plaintively. "It's time for lunch, and we didn't even have breakfast!"

"In that case, food should be our first priority," the professor agreed seriously. "Waitress! We're ready to order."

The restaurant's menu was simple enough: cheese or pepperoni, take it or leave it. The Takenouchis chose to go all out, and they were shortly thereafter presented with a steaming-hot pizza that was nearly as large as the table. For a moment, all was quiet as the three of them concentrated on eating.

Eventually, the professor finished off his second slice and set aside the crusts - the pizza bones, as he liked to call them - and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as if steeling himself for something. Sora eyed him apprehensively, wondering what was making him look so serious.

"So," he said at last, "you're sure you're feeling better? Your bites aren't giving you any trouble, are they?"

"No, not really," she said. "They hardly hurt at all. Really."

"You gave me a scare yesterday," he said. "I was more scared than I let on, I think. Last night, I was lying awake, thinking about all the things that could have happened... You could have been lost in those mountains forever. You could have been mauled by those dogs, and I might never have found you... and it would have been my fault for bringing you here in the first place. It terrified me."

"It wouldn't have been your fault," she assured him. "It was my fault for thinking I know how to navigate in the wilderness in the first place, and for talking to strange people, especially when you told me not to. And I probably should have known better than to run from a guard dog, too."

"Well, maybe so," he agreed. "Still, I do worry. I have to wonder if I wasn't a bit overconfident, bringing you here and leaving you alone so much. I'm beginning to think it might be better if you went home."

"No!" she protested. "Please, Dad. I want to stay here with you. I won't do anything else stupid, I promise."

"I'm not saying anything you did was wrong," said her father. "I'm not punishing you for anything. I'm just concerned about your safety."

"I can take care of myself," she said. She crossed her arms in a stubborn gesture, and accidently hit herself in a sore spot. "Ow."

"You aren't as healed as all that, I see," he said. "Imagine if your mother found out about this! She'd have me skinned, if she didn't do it personally."

"I won't tell her," said Sora. "I won't say anything to anyone about this if you just let me stay."

The professor opened his mouth to begin to argue. However, before he could say anything, there was a disturbance in the front of the restaurant, as people sitting closest to the window suddenly stood up to get a better look at something. With the sun slanting strongly into her eyes, Sora couldn't plainly see from where she sat what everyone was looking like, but she had the impression that someone was walking up the street carrying something. Everyone was pointing and exclaiming to each other. As he took note of the pandemonium, Professor Takenouchi rose from his seat.

"Wait right there," he said. "I want to check this out for myself."

Without waiting for a response, he got up and walked quickly out of the building. Sora stared a moment, nonplussed, and then rose to her feet and hurried to follow him. She wasn't alone; most of the other diners seemed to have forgotten about their food and were crowding to squeeze through the narrow door. It took some time and a little judicious shoving before Sora could finally make it out into the street to rejoin her father. She sighted him first and went to stand with him, so she could see what he was looking at that was making him look so grave. Then she saw, and wished she hadn't.

It was her acquaintance from the day before, the friendly boy who had invited her to play soccer with him. Sora had to stare a moment before she recognized him - not because she had only known him for a few minutes, but because he hardly looked like himself anymore. His face was frozen in a silent gasp of horror, his eyes wide and unseeing. His clothing was not just torn, but shredded, until only scraps of it still clung loosely together, and all of it was stained red-black. Sora felt her stomach clench, and she swallowed hard and turned away, trying to block out the sight. Her father put his arm around her and let her hide her face against his shoulder; she felt Piyomon press against her leg supportively.

"What has happened here?" she heard her father say.

"I found him," answered the man carrying the body. "He was supposed to have been playing in the forest near here, but he didn't come home for lunch. His mother asked me to keep an eye out for him. I was too late. Looks like an animal got him."

"I think we should let the authorities decide what happened," Professor Takenouchi replied. "This should be reported to the police. You probably shouldn't have moved him, but it's too late for that now. At the very least, let's cover him up. Think of his mother if she should see him this way."

Someone returned to the restaurant and returned with one of the green tablecloths, and the gory sight was mercifully covered. The man and his grisly burden were escorted to the local constabulary by a concerned crowd, and the professor guided his daughter away from it all.

"It's all right, honey," he said softly. "You can look now."

"That was awful," she said thickly, still hiding her face in his shirt.

"I know it was. I wish I hadn't seen it, myself. Are you going to be all right?"

She sniffled. "He was my friend. He helped me when I needed help, and he was going to play soccer with me, and now..."

"Shh, shh. I know, honey, and I'm sorry, too. Nobody deserves that."

"What's going to happen now?" asked Sora. She chanced a look around; the streets were mostly empty, and she found she was being led slowly to the edge of town.

"There will be an investigation, most likely," her father replied. "Probably they'll come to the conclusion that it was some kind of wild animal that did it. That seems most likely."

"Do you think it was an animal?"

"I prefer to keep an open mind," he said.

"You think it was one of those things, don't you?" she asked. "One of the demons you came looking for."

"If I told anyone I thought that, they'd ship me straight out of town and into an asylum," he said. "And I certainly have no reason to think it was a supernatural entity. There are wild animals in the mountains that might attack a human. Bears, maybe."

"A bear didn't do that," said Sora. "I saw his clothes. They weren't torn, they were slashed, like with a knife."

Her father looked at her long and hard. "You are getting very observant."

Sora shrugged weakly. "I don't need to be. I can't get the picture out of my head."

"Well, don't go around town saying you think there's some kind of magical monster on the loose. Let's keep these theories between you and me."

"There is something bad going on here," said Sora. "I didn't believe it before - I didn't want to - but I believe it now." She paused a moment. "Dad, when I came to town today, something was following me, and Piyomon couldn't see it, but I could. It moved like an animal."

She watched her father's face, and saw an expression of shock and worry flash across it before his professional calm could smooth it away.

"Really?" he said. "Hmm."

"Do you think it could have been the same kind of creature?"

"Well, seeing as how it didn't bother you, I'd say that's really a moot point," her father replied. "But, Sora, this does put things in a new light. That boy was a native here. He would have lived his whole life in these hills. He should have known what was safe and what meant danger, and he was within a short walk of the town when he was found. This wasn't a matter of doing something careless. Animal, human, demon, whatever it may be, there's something near this town that's capable of killing people. Are you absolutely sure you want to stay here?"

Sora hesitated. "Are you staying?"

He half-smiled. "I have to. I have work to do."

"Then I'm staying with you," she said firmly. "I can't leave you here all alone, and I'm not going home and telling Mom I left you here to be eaten by whatevers. We'll stay here and protect each other."

"I have a better idea," he said. "Let's protect each other back at the house. I've rather lost my appetite for lunch, haven't you?"

Sora and Piyomon nodded.

"Right, then. We'll go home and try to unwind a bit," he said. "Come to think of it, I've lost my impetus to work, too."

"I left my bike behind," said Sora.

"Don't worry. I'll pick it up for you later. Nobody will bother it. That's the nice thing about living in a town like this - you can trust people."

Continuing to speak reassuring words, he led his daughter back up the path. Sora half-listened, watching the shadows around her for any sign of a threat, but if there was anything stealthily padding alongside them, this time, not even she could see it.

~*~

That night, Sora dreamed of the dead boy. This time, he wasn't being carried in the man's arms, but lying in the grass, partly shielded from sight by a few small shrubs. Not knowing what to do, Sora simply stood and stared, hardly daring to breathe.

The bushes rustled. Something slunk into her line of sight, and she had to cover her mouth to stifle a gasp. The thing was jet black and hairless, with an emaciated, monkey-like body. Its long limbs were tipped with claws as long as her fingers, all of them looking paper thin but wickedly sharp. Springing from the base of its spine was a long tail with a hook at the end, reminding her of a scorpion's tail. Its head reminded her of a bull's, being broad and flat, with horns a short muzzle, but its mouth was full of jagged teeth. Its eyes were flat black, with a filmed-over look, like a dead thing's eyes. The whole thing had a diseased and slimy look to it that made her insides squirm. It paid no attention to her, but instead slunk slowly towards the fallen boy, snuffling and drooling.

"No!" she shrieked. "Don't touch him!"

The thing raised its head and seemed to look at her, though its gaze remained blank and unfocused. Its nostrils twitched as it snuffled wetly, and then it darted out a green-black tongue, tasting the air. Its jaws opened in a sibilant hiss. Slowly, it began moving towards her, panting in anticipation.

*Now I've done it,* she thought, staring around her for a mode of escape. Her feet were no longer obeying her; she could no more escape than the trees around her could pull up their roots and walk away. The demon continued advancing, moving lazily, as if it knew full well that she couldn't escape it, and relished watching her ascending panic. As it drew nearer, she was sure she could feel something radiating from it, a chill like invisible fog. The air around it smelled of dust and decay. It took another slow, deliberate step towards her... then stopped and raised its head. Its eyes narrowed, and a low rumble began in the back of its throat.

Sora heard the crunch of footfalls behind her, and she turned to see the Gray Man striding towards her. His mouth was set in a grim, hard line, and his silvery eyes blazed with fury. In his hand, he carried a slim silver sword ornamented with designs of climbing vines. He carried it as if it were weightless, but the gleam along its edge suggested that it was sharp enough to cleave through steel or stone.

"Stand aside," he said softly.

Sora started. It took a moment for it to sink in that the man was speaking to her. This was the first time he had ever addressed her, or even acknowledged that she was there, and she had begun to think that she was as much of a dream to him as he was to her.

"Stand aside," he said again. He touched her shoulder gently, and she felt something run down her spine like cool water. She discovered that her feet would move again, and she hastened to obey, taking shelter in the trees from which the Gray Man had come. A fog was swirling in his wake, and she was sure she'd be invisible to anyone in front of her, though she could still see clearly what was going on.

The Gray Man continued to advance on the demon, who crouched low on the ground and eyed him as if calculating whether or not he was close enough to pounce upon and tear his throat out. A warning gesture with the sword seemed to convince it that this would not be the best idea.

"Don't try it," said the Gray Man. "I'm in no mood to be merciful to you. Try anything, and I'll destroy you and find another of your foul ilk to get my information from."

The demon growled. It began slinking slowly to the side, trying to edge away.

"Stop," the Gray Man ordered. "I want to talk to you. If you're wise, you'll give me the answers I want. Now, who put you up to this?"

The demon muttered something unintelligible. It didn't sound like words to Sora, but more like the sounds a dog would make as it murmured in its sleep. However, it seemed to make sense to the man, because he listened attentively, with a deepening frown on his face.

"That's not what I wanted to hear," he said. "Don't lie to me, lizard. You wouldn't have left your territory, or come so close to human hunters, of your own accord. Someone made you do it. Tell me who and I will let you live. Or do I have to coax you?" He raised his sword menacingly.

The creature whimpered. Again it made those strange moaning sounds. The Gray Man raised his eyebrows slightly.

"A tree?" he inquired.

The demon nodded.

"Interesting," said the Gray Man. "Did it speak to you, or...?"

More moanings and mutterings.

"I see," the man replied. "And where did you see it?"

The demon raised a claw and pointed towards the mountains, and it spoke a few words. The Gray Man nodded.

"I see," he said, nodding slowly. "I believe I can find it from here. Very well. Since you were cooperative, you will remain intact. However, there is still the matter of the human life you took... not to mention being out of bounds. For that, I will banish you back to the darkness until such time that no living thing walks this earth who can remember your crimes. By the power that is given to me..."

He raised his sword. Light gleamed along its blade, rippling and flashing more brightly than the sun. The creature gave a howl and tried to escape, but the light grew too brilliant to see through, and then...

Sora sat up in bed with a gasp.

Sunlight was pouring through her window, spilling across her face. She got up and peered out the window, resting her forehead against the cool glass, letting her thoughts reorder themselves.

One strange dream about a man in gray was just a dream. After all, she'd lived through all kinds of strange experiences, next to which a spectral man in archaic raiment was nothing out of the ordinary. Two such dreams was a coincidence. Three... three dreams that were so real and detailed that she could have sworn she'd lived them in her waking life, all of which involved the same strange man - that had to mean something.

*He's real,* she told herself. *As real as I am, or the old crone and the dogs... or the thing that killed that boy. He's mixed up in it all, somehow. I'm sure he knows what's going on around here.*

Outside her window, she could see the line of trees that led away from the house and out of sight. Though the morning sun was strong and bright, the shadows still lay thickly in the forest. It occurred to Sora that in every dream she'd had of the Gray Man, there had always been trees surrounding him. Even the tree branch he'd carried suggested close ties to the forest and to nature, perhaps to that very primal force that had made Piyomon feel so uneasy. Very briefly, Sora wondered if he might not even be that force. One thing, though, was fixed in her mind: if the Gray Man was anywhere in the waking world, he would be in the forest.

"Hey, Piyomon, are you awake?" she called.

The pink bird, who had been perched at the foot of Sora's bed, opened her eyes, fluttered her wings, and looked around.

"Oh, it's morning!" she chirped.

Sora had to smile at her partner's delight simply at waking up to a sunny morning.

"Yes, it is," she said. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept," Piyomon replied. "I had a funny dream, though... I don't remember it very well, though. There was a man in it, all dressed in gray. He was standing over your bed watching you."

That settled things in Sora's mind. If she and Piyomon were both dreaming about this Gray Man, it had to mean something important. She glanced back at the window, where she could still see the trees of the forest lurking silently in the background. She nodded, her mind made up.

"I wonder if Dad is up yet?" she mused.

"Let's find out," said Piyomon. "Maybe he made breakfast!"

Sora agreed that breakfast sounded like a good idea, whether it was made by her father or not. (Her private opinion was that she would be better off making breakfast herself; the last time her father had attempted to make breakfast, he had wound up producing an approximation of pancakes that nevertheless would have made better coasters than food.) The two of them walked downstairs and found the professor sitting at the kitchen table, staring out the window with a faraway expression in his eyes. He was holding a piece of buttered toast halfway between his plate and his mouth, having evidently forgotten it in mid-movement.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" she asked him.

"Hm?" he said. He blinked a few times, apparently reluctant to leave whatever dream he was lost in. It occurred to Sora for the first time to wonder if her father dreamed of the Gray Man as well, and whether it might be preying on his mind the same as it did on hers. She imagined that if he was having the same sorts of dreams, they would probably occupy his thoughts even more than they did his daughter's.

"Your breakfast looks like it's getting cold," she told him gently. "You might want to eat it before it gets completely stale."

"Oh! Right you are," he said, looking somewhat sheepish. He glanced down at his food with an expression of vague distaste before taking a resolute bite of his toast.

"You looked like you were a million miles away," said Sora, as she began searching the kitchen cabinet for cold cereal.

"I was trying to solve a riddle," he said. "I can see several possible answers to it, but I'm afraid that until I can get more information, I'm stuck with only conjectures. Still, I did have a few ideas last night that I can pursue. Do you ever find that you can think of answers more easily in your sleep than you do when you're awake?"

"You mean, like in a dream or something?" asked Sora.

"Sometimes," he said. "I've been known to have an insight in a dream once in a blue moon. I was thinking more of that time just before you fall asleep, or when you're just waking up. When your mind is relaxed. Things seem clearer then, somehow. To me, anyway."

"Oh," she said. She found she was slightly disappointed and slightly reassured in equal measures. If her father had mentioned strange dreams...

"So I'm afraid I'm going to be traveling again for most of today," he finished. "I have a lot of ground to cover, physically and metaphorically. I might be late getting home tonight. I hope I won't, but it's a possibility, so if you get hungry and I'm not back yet, don't feel you'll have to wait around for me."

"That's all right," she assured him. "I can entertain myself. Just... stay safe, all right?"

"Don't worry," he said, smiling faintly. "It seems to be a rule of nature that monsters never appear to the people who are actively looking for them. They only show up when they're not wanted."

"Do you want to see a monster?" she asked. "I wouldn't, if it were me."

"Of course I do," he answered. "How else am I going to know it's there?"

They finished their breakfast in thoughtful silence. Professor Takenouchi lapsed back into daydreaming within moments, his dark eyes looking faintly troubled. He frowned from time to time, as if thinking of unpleasant possibilities. If he had been watching his daughter's expression, he might have noticed something similar occurring; even though she had made up her mind what she wanted to do, that didn't necessarily make it easier to do. It meant disobeying her father's orders, for one thing... and it meant putting herself in danger, and possibly Piyomon as well. Still, she had to know the truth somehow...

"Well, I'm off," said the professor at last, shoving his plate away and taking a final gulp from his coffee cup. "Have a nice day, Sora. Stay out of trouble." His light tone faltered slightly as he added, "You might want to think about staying indoors today. It's... er, the indications are that it's going to rain today."

Sora got the distinct impression that it wasn't the weather he was concerned about. She thought again of the body of the village boy, and felt an internal wrench.

"I don't want any trouble," she told her father. "Come to think of it, I don't want to get rained on, either. I'll bet it's cold up here in the mountains, when it rains."

"You bet it is," he replied. He ran a hand through her hair. "Well, goodbye." He started for the door.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Piyomon chirped.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Your bag of stuff. You left it under your chair."

Professor Takenouchi blushed slightly, but he raised his head in the most lofty manner he could manage and said, "I knew that. I was just going to pick it up before you stopped me."

Sora smiled tolerantly. "I knew that."

"Well, so." The professor scooped up his bag, and fumbled to catch a few papers that were trying resolutely to slip out of the pockets they'd been shoved into. "All right, this really is goodbye! I'll see you two this evening, as early as I can manage it. Be good!"

He walked briskly for the front door, into the sunlight that poured through it. For a moment, he was surrounded by a gold halo, and the soft winds of the morning swept around him and filled the tiny kitchen. Then he stepped away and shut the door behind him, leaving the room feeling dim and empty. Sora rose and peered out the window, watching him as he walked down the front steps, climbed into the little blue car, and began driving it down the winding path to the village. Soon he was lost among the trees. Sora waited, counting off sixty heartbeats, waiting to see if her absent-minded father would decide he'd forgotten something and turn back. When she was sure he was gone, only then did she turn around and face her partner. She found Piyomon watching her expectantly.

"Are you worried about him?" asked the little bird.

"A little," said Sora. "I've got a lot of things on my mind this morning."

She began walking in the direction of the back door. Piyomon fluttered after her, looking puzzled.

"Aren't we going to clean up the dishes?" she asked.

"Later," Sora replied. "Nobody will notice. Dad said he wouldn't be back until nightfall, probably."

"You're not going to clean up? That's not like you."

"I know. Pi, listen. There's something I want to do - something I've got to find out. I know it's probably crazy. Maybe it's even dangerous, but I'm going to go crazy if I don't learn the truth soon." She smiled, a trifle grimly. "Maybe there's more of my dad in me than I thought."

Piyomon looked at her worriedly. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to look for the Gray Man."

"But - but Sora... he's not real. You just dreamed about him. Well, we just dreamed about him, but..."

"Dad would say that just because you've only dreamed about it doesn't mean it's not real," said Sora. "Before I met you, I would have said you probably couldn't exist - that the whole Digital World and magicians and monsters and angels probably didn't exist. And now I feel in my heart that the Gray Man exists... and that he's the only one who really knows what's going on in this place. I want to find him. Maybe he can help."

"How are you going to find him?" asked Piyomon. "He could be anywhere."

Sora looked out the back window. The sunlight didn't reach as strongly there, and the ground seemed coated in green and blue shadows.

"He's in the forest somewhere," she said softly. "Right out there."

"Your dad said not to go in there."

"He said to stay in sight of the house, not that we couldn't go in at all."

"Um," said Piyomon. She seemed to be trying to think of another objection, but her skill as a debater was not great. At last, she said, "I might not be able to protect you. I couldn't fight off the dogs, and if there's something in there..."

"I know," said Sora. "I won't ask you to go with me."

Piyomon ruffled her feathers in a manner that suggesting she was squaring her shoulders as best she could with only the avian equivalent thereof. "Well, if you're going, I'm going, too."

Sora smiled. "I knew you would. Thanks, Pi."

They walked out onto the back porch and trudged slowly across what had once been a scrap of lawn. There wasn't much left of it, now. No one had bothered to mow it in what appeared to be years, and it had become more and more overgrown with weeds as the years went by. One corner of the yard held what had once been something like a porch swing, now badly rusted, to the point where Sora wouldn't have trusted her slight weight to it. Another corner had a slight difference in the texture and quality of things growing on it that suggested it might have been a garden, once. The grass was above Sora's knees in some places, and Piyomon couldn't push through it at all, but was forced to hover above it instead. Here and there, a sapling no thicker than Sora's thumb sprouted up and put forth a few leaves. Sora guessed that if their growth wasn't stopped by something in the next few years, it would be impossible to tell where the yard left off and the forest began.

She knew, though. She felt it the moment she stepped off of the land tamed, however minutely, by human hands and into the wild. Cool shadows fell over her, shadows with such presence that they seemed almost palpable, as if she'd had a light silk robe thrown over her. The air was heavy with the scent of pine needles and decomposing leaves. Sunlight became reduced to pinpricks in the canopy above her, a faraway dream, visible but untouchable as the stars in the night sky. She felt a tingle of trepidation, as if she'd just wandered into enemy territory, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a surge of appreciation that bordered on awe. There was something grand and ancient here, something that put her glossy city home to shame. Dangerous as this trip might be, she found she was reluctant to turn back.

"Sora," said Piyomon softly, "I hear something."

Sora stopped. She became aware suddenly that something else had stopped as well, something that pattered to a halt a split second after she had stopped walking. She looked all around, trying to see what might have caused the sound, but all she could see were shadows and leaves and the trunks of trees. She began walking again, and behind her, she heard a faint crish-crish-crish of something walking through dead leaves.

*It's that thing again,* she realized. *The one that followed me yesterday. What does it want?*

"Hello?" she called uncertainly.

There was a slight rustling. It sounded like something had just leaped into a hiding place.

"I know you're there," said Sora a bit louder. "It's no good trying to hide from me. Why don't you just come out and show yourself? I promise, I'm not looking for trouble. We won't hurt you."

The forest remained stubbornly silent. There wasn't even a rustle or a patter of feet.

"Did it disappear?" asked Piyomon.

"I don't know. It might have," said Sora doubtfully.

She began to walk again, and behind her, she heard the crunching noised begin again. Oddly enough, it was reassuring. Whatever the thing was, it didn't seem to mean her any harm, and as strange as it was, it had at least become a familiar strangeness. She found she preferred her invisible follower to the idea of running into something completely unexpected.

They continued to walk, the three of them - Sora picking her way along in front, Piyomon fluttering behind her, and the padding footsteps a few yards behind. At first, Sora kept her course angled slightly, so that she was tracing a broad arch around the house, always keeping its peaked roof within sighting distance. However, as she continued to walk, she found herself growing more accustomed to the forest, and less afraid of it. It was a beautiful place, in its way. The trees had a kind of monumental grandeur to them, and the smell of pine resins was like a heady perfume, sweet and invigorating. Engrossed as she was in exploring this fascinating new world, she had already half- forgotten why she had come here. Why worry about a Gray Man who might or might not exist when she had all this right here in front of her to admire?

She was brought back to reality with a jolt when a strange sound rang through the air. She jumped, her heart suddenly pounding in her throat, and found herself staring at the sky. The noise came again, something between the howl of a wolf and the screech of a bird of prey... or, she thought uneasily, like the scream something would make just before something else tore it to shreds.

"What was that?" Piyomon squeaked.

"I don't know and I don't want to know," said Sora flatly. "Come on - let's get out of here!"

She turned to run... and realized that she could no longer see the house behind her. Panic rose up. Which way was it? She didn't know, and going back wouldn't help her - she hadn't traveled in a straight line, and now she needed a direct path that she could follow as fast as possible.

"Which way? Which way?" she asked herself futilely.

The scream came again, closer this time, and Sora stopped debating and ran for her life. She didn't know which was the way back home and she didn't care. All she wanted was whatever path would take her away from whatever made that awful noise. However, before the echo of the first cry died out, she heard a second one come from a different direction, and then a third. Reality was slow in reaching her brain, and her feet continued to move even after she realized that it was no good running: she was boxed in.

Suddenly, something in the underbrush rustled and burst into view. Sora screamed. If it wasn't the same monster she'd dreamed about, it was a perfect replica of it, right down to its razor-thin claws and drooling mouth. As it caught sight of her, it shrieked again, a victory cry.

"No!" Sora shouted, and tried to backtrack. Two more monsters came bounding up to join the first, hemming her in on all sides. They began circling her, sizing her up, sniffing at the air and flicking out their tongues. Through her haze of panic, Sora got the impression that they were trying to figure out what she was, and whether or not she might be dangerous or edible or possibly both. She had to do something now, while they were still uncertain, or she would never get another chance.

"Get back!" she shouted at them, and made a lunge forward as if to attack.

One of the creatures, the one that had been closest to her at the time, was caught by surprise and backed off a few paces. With speed born of desperation, Sora snatched a broken limb that was lying on the ground and jabbed it as hard as she could at the monster's face. Luck was with her, and the jagged edge of the stick struck the monster in the eye.

The creature let forth a truly horrible scream that made Sora's insides revolt and her face break out in sweat, but she didn't have time to worry about that now. While the monster thrashed in pain, whimpering and pawing at its face, she charged past it and began running as far as she could from the other monsters. The other two tried to leap after her, but Piyomon pivoted in midair and threw a spiral of green fire at them. It didn't seem to faze the demons particularly, but it lit a small fire in the underbrush that blocked their path, and they didn't seem keen on crossing it.

"Way to go, Piyo!" Sora said.

The monsters growled furiously, but they weren't following her again just yet. Sora had formed a vague notion that the things were mostly blind, and that they relied on their noses and tongues more than their eyes. The thick smoke being put out by the fire on the damp leaves seemed to be confusing their senses, and Sora thought a prayer to whatever friendly spirits might be out there that the monsters would lose her trail and give up.

No sooner had this hope lodged in her mind, when she heard a screech behind her, and she knew it could only mean one thing: the lizard-monsters had found her trail again. She risked a glance back, and could distantly see two dark shapes bounding behind her. She put on an extra burst of speed, but it was clear that they were faster than she was, and there was no way she could outrun them...

And then a perfectly friendly voice said, almost in her ear, "Did I hear someone call for help?"

Sora looked, her heart leaping - but it was not the Gray Man that she found herself facing. Standing before her was what appeared to be a fox, except that it was standing on its hind legs, and it was within an inch of her own height... and it seemed to have four tails.

"Don't look so surprised," he said - it was obviously a he; the fox-man wore no clothing save his fur, and Sora knew enough about animals to tell a dog-fox from a vixen. "You called on friendly spirits, and here I am! Don't worry, girl-pup. Leave the dusk-lizards to the kitsune.

Before Sora could say another word, the fox leaped towards the dark monsters with a yip that sounded to her like laughter. The demons stopped short as they came face to face with this unexpected arrival. Sora just stood and stared, thinking, *A kitsune! A real live kitsune! If only Dad could see this!*

There was no doubt in Sora's mind that her father would be delighted to meet a genuine kitsune living practically in his backyard, as it were, but it was plain that the same could not be said for the monsters. They snarled at it, lowering themselves to the ground, ready to either spring at it or run away, should the need arise. The kitsune barked at them in something that sounded like dog-noises made into words, though in no language Sora had ever heard. Whatever he said, it incensed the monsters - the dusk-lizards, as the fox had called them. They sprang at him, and he received them with teeth flashing, and the three of them went into the biggest dog fight that Sora had ever seen. Though there were two of the lizards and only one kitsune, he seemed to be doing nicely on his own. Though the monsters' teeth and claws were getting a lot of use, they never seemed to land more than a glancing blow on their opponent, but both of them were soon leaking greenish-yellow fluid from a number of wounds.

"We ought to get out of here while the getting is good," said Sora.

Piyomon shook her head stubbornly. "He saved us both. We can't just leave him. Besides, it's my job to protect you. Maybe I can help."

Without waiting for an answer, Piyomon flew into the fray, cheeping her best imitation of a battle cry. A dusk-lizard looked up in surprise and got a blast of magical fire in its face. It coughed and snorted a moment, but seemed otherwise unharmed. The second dusk-lizard swiped at her, just barely missing one of her wings. She fluttered away with a cry of fright.

"Get back!" the kitsune shouted at her. "This is no place for a Digital Monster! Take your partner and go!"

Piyomon hesitated, clearly unwilling to leave the fight to a stranger when her partner needed protecting. Her split second of indecision proved to be a moment too long. Razor-sharp claws slashed across her back, and she shrieked and fell from the sky. Instantly, the two dusk-lizards turned away from the kitsune and turned their attention to this more helpless prey.

The kitsune did not forget them, however. He dove between the two of them, clubbing them aside with his fists and lashing them with his tails, until they cringed back enough to let him snatch Piyomon off of the ground. He picked her up and threw her, and Sora had a sudden and strange view of her partner sailing through the air like a perfectly thrown football before she thudded into Sora's chest, and she fumbled to catch her. Sora made a brief check; Piyomon still seemed more-or-less conscious, but she was bleeding bits of purple-pink data and her eyes were glazed with pain.

"Get out of here, now!" the fox shouted. "The man of the forest will have my hide if anything happens to you!"

"You mean the Gray Man? You know him?" asked Sora, startled.

"Just go!"

Sora went, running as fast as she could with the burden of Piyomon in her arms. The little bird was built by necessity to be fairly light, but it was still a cumbersome thing to have to run through a forest when one's arms were full, even of something so light as a bundle of feathers. Sora pushed through the tangles of thorns and shrubs and fallen branches as well as she could, trying not to jar her injured partner any more than necessary.

Behind her, she could still hear the snarls and yips that came from the battle between the spirit fox and the dusk-lizards. A sudden cry made her spare a glance behind her; one of the lizards seemed to have realized that his original prey was escaping, and was loping after her. The kitsune attempted to follow him, but was held up by the second lizard, who had managed to get a tight hold of his tail, and he was having difficulty freeing himself. Sora took one look at the monster that was pursuing her and redoubled her speed.

For a while, it looked like she had a chance to get away. The dusk-lizard seemed to have been injured in his fight with the kitsune, and he was moving with a pronounced limp that prevented him from moving faster than a human might walk briskly. Sora, moving at a flat-out run, could have easily outstripped him if she hadn't been hampered by the double burden of the load she carried and the snagging twigs and roots. Even so, she was managing to keep a fairly good distance between herself and him, and the gap was slowly widening as he began to tire. Sora chanced a look over her shoulder to see if he was still there, and...

...her foot caught on a root. She cried out in equal parts of pain and frustration as she hit the ground. Piyomon was flung from her arms and rolled a few feet away. She tried to move, then whimpered and lay still. Sora tried to pull herself to her feet, but her ankle seemed to be twisted, or broken; she could not rest her weight on it even enough to stand up. She looked around frantically, but the kitsune was too far behind her to even be heard anymore. There was no one here to save her.

*This is it,* she thought vaguely. *It's all over... Dad will never even know what happened. Nobody will even be able to find my body out here...*

Panic overtook her. She screamed, willing someone, anyone to hear her and come save her. The only one who responded was the lizard, fixing its opaque eyes on her, slinking slowly forward. It was in no hurry, now; it knew it had her. She could hear its breath rasping in its throat as it panted in anticipation. As she scrambled to back away, it reached out one of its twiglike hands. The tips of its claws grazed her cheek - only that, but it was enough to draw four thin lines of blood across her face.

"No," she pleaded. "Don't, please..."

The thing ignored her. It drew back its claws and licked them with a slimy green tongue. It grinned and reached out again.

"No!" she shouted. "Somebody help me! Help me!"

"Sora!" A voice echoed in the distance. "Hang on, Sora, I'm coming!"

The voice distracted the thing. It raised its head, wet nostrils twitching as it tried to figure out who the voice was coming from. Sora took the opportunity to drag herself a few more feet away from the monster, but inside, she was less than comforted. She had recognized that voice. It was her father. Her father was coming to try to save her... but what could a book-bound, scatterbrained professor do against a demon? What could he do, but delay the inevitable, and force her to have to watch him die trying to save her? Why was he even here, in the middle of nowhere?

In the next instant, he came charging into view, his face a mask of fear and fury. He leveled a furious gaze at the monster. In a dim sort of way, Sora wondered why they didn't seem to be surprised to see each other.

"Get back!" her father ordered the thing. "I'm warning you, you don't want to make me angry!"

The demon thought it didn't believe him. It growled again, slinking experimentally closer to the professor in a manner that said it wondered how he might taste. After all, its other victim was in no shape to go anywhere. Professor Takenouchi stood his ground.

"You are trying my patience," he told it. "I'll warn you again. Leave now. Now!"

The demon let out a howl and leaped for him, jaws gaping as it reached for his throat.

There was a brilliant flash, bright enough that Sora felt her eyes contract painfully at the sudden brightness. When she could look again, the scene had changed. The world was suffused in a silver-gray glow, all of it emanating from the place where her father had been standing a second ago. Now he was gone, and in his place was the Gray Man. In one hand he held his sword, and in the other, the cut tree branch. His eyes blazed a furious silver.

The demon cringed away, clearly frightened by this unexpected manifestation. It tried a desperate lunge at him. The Gray Man made a flourish with his staff, and the demon rebounded off a shield of silver light.

"Back!" the Gray Man ordered. His voice echoed in the still forest. "Get back to the shadows from which you came! I order you, begone!"

The thing snarled, cringing as if each word were a blade that cut him, but it refused to yield. It slunk away from the Gray Man, drawing closer to where Sora sat staring, transfixed. If it was going to have to leave, it would take her with it.

The Gray Man was having none of it. He raised his sword and pointed it at the beast.

"You don't want me to use this," he said. "That girl is mine, and if you or your ilk so much as breathe on her, you will pay dearly! For the last time, back down!"

The demon cringed. It seemed to sink into the ground, as if a huge weight pressed on its shoulders. It stared beseechingly at the Gray Man, but it was already too late for it.

"I tire of your presence," he said in disgust. "You've had your chance. Now you'll pay. By the power that is given to me..."

He said something else, something that howled like a high wind in Sora's ears, though not a leaf stirred around her. The monster let out a howl that brought sweat to her face. Then the sounds became quieter, until there was nothing but silence. The Gray Man dropped his weapons, head bowing and shoulders slumping, dwindling until he was only her father again. He sighed deeply, slumping against the side of a tree and apparently trying to catch his breath. Sora continued to stare.

"Dad?" she said quietly.

"Sora," he answered. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head, brushing off the question. "You're him. You're the Gray Man."

"I suppose I am," he answered, "though it beats me how you knew about him. Me. How did you know?"

"I've been dreaming about him," Sora replied, "every night since we got here. I thought he was just a dream, but..."

"I would have preferred he went on being a dream," her father answered. "Sora, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen to you. I didn't mean for you to find out."

"How did this happen?" she asked quietly.

"Later. Not here, not now," he answered. "Can you walk?"

"I don't think so... and Piyo's hurt, too."

Without a word, her father walked over to where Piyomon lay and knelt beside her. With his back turned to Sora, she couldn't see what he was doing, but in seconds, Piyomon was sitting up and blinking. Then he came to kneel next to Sora.

"Hold still a moment," he instructed.

He pressed a hand to her forehead, and another over her heart. For a moment, she had the sensation of walking through a fog, as grayness covered her eyes and something cool and damp seemed to press against her skin. Then her vision cleared. She realized that her ankle no longer pained her. She put a hand to where the scratches had been and felt only drying blood.

"Better now?" he asked softly.

"Yes, I think so," she answered. "Just... a little stunned."

"You're not the only one. Let's go home and get straightened up. I know it sounds blase to say banishing demons makes me thirsty, but..."

"Let's go home," she agreed.

They took the journey at a snail's pace. Even though Sora's injuries were gone, she felt bone-tired, not to mention more than a little shaky on her feet. Piyomon seemed to feel the same way, and kept uncharacteristically silent. Normally seeing her partner in any kind of danger would have had her chattering frantically, trying to make sure she was all right, but she seemed to have no energy for anything but walking. The professor looked the worst; everything about his attitude suggested utter exhaustion.

They were barely able to stagger into the kitchen when he collapsed into a chair and lay there with his head tilted back and the rest of him draped with no particular care. Sora found a glass and filled it with water, offering it to him. He drained it in thirsty gulps.

"Thank you," he said fervently. "You have no idea how much I needed that."

"Do you feel well enough to explain what just happened?" she asked, sitting down beside him.

"I can try," he replied. He sighed. "Sora, please understand that I never meant for any of that to happen. I didn't mean for you to get into that kind of danger. I never meant for you to find about... what did you call him? The Gray Man?"

"It seemed right," she said. "Do you have some other name, when you do that?"

"I never dared to give myself a name," he said. "Too many cultures believe names can be used to give someone power over their owner. I didn't want to do anything that might affect... whatever happens... when that happens... I've confused myself."

Sora managed a weak smile. That sounded more like the father she knew.

"I don't suppose calling him the Gray Man will hurt anything, though," he decided. "I mean, it isn't exactly a name, is it? It's just what he is..."

"You're off the subject," she said gently.

He sighed. "All right. I guess I do owe you an explanation. Well, let's see if I can tell this story in a way that make sense. It all started years ago, not long after you were born..."

"About the time your hair turned gray," Sora guessed.

He smiled wryly. "Clever of you to notice. Anyway, at that time, I was traveling alone, in a place much like this one. I'd heard vague rumors of a place in the forest where strange things had been known to happen. Stories said there was a forest spirit, or spirits, who lived there, who had been known to speak to humans from time to time. Silly me - I was so sure I wanted to find them..."

~*~

Professor Takenouchi shaded his eyes as he squinted up at the sun. It was occurring to him belatedly that he still wasn't the best woodsman alive - well, that was understandable; he had only been doing this kind of research for a few years. It was understandable that he wouldn't have completely mastered everything he would need for searching for sacred forest shrines, or whatever it was that was out here, on his own. He had thought he would be all right as long as he had a map and a compass and his pack of supplies. Now he was realizing that just because he knew which way was north did not necessarily mean he knew which way he ought to be going.

He spun in a small circle, trying to get his bearings. It was evident that he was standing on the slope of a mountain, though there were too many trees in his way to see what might lay at the bottom of the slope. Higher up, the mountain broke away in a kind of cliff, leaving behind a wall of jagged-edged rock. At the very top of the cliff, he could see one larger stone, looking to him like an artifact on a pedestal.

*If I stand up there, I'll have a good view of what's down below me,* he thought. *If I'm anywhere near the town, I'll be able to see it from there. If I can't see it, I'll at least be able to see the river. That will at least give me something to follow.*

It was a good plan, and he hurried to set it in motion. Going home without finding anything would be a disappointment, but it would be better than remaining lost in the wilderness. He scrambled up the slope without doing anything worse to himself than skinning his knees a few times. After a few minutes of careful climbing, hauling himself up by the stems of bushes, he was able to reach the top of the cliff.

Up close, the rock he had noticed was more interesting than it had seemed from afar. Seen from below, it was only a squarish lump of stone. From here, he could see that it rested in an interesting location, almost exactly in the center of the cliff's rim. He could also see that it was not, in fact, just squarish, but almost perfectly square, and flat on top, like a table.

*Stones don't just put themselves in interesting places,* he thought, feeling excitement rising, *and they don't just carve themselves into squares - not this kind of stone, anyway. Someone put this rock here for a purpose.*

Curious now, he approached the rock. Now that he knew what to look for, he thought he could see the markings made by the tools that had cut it into this shape. But why was it here? Did someone put it there recently, as a pleasant place to sit at a lookout point? Or did it have a ceremonial purpose? A stone table like this could be used for anything from sacrifices to astrological observations. Mind whirling with questions, he climbed on top of it, to have a look out over the scenery...

The sun blinded him, and he cringed away from it. Squinting, he held a hand up to his face to try to block it. It made no difference. The light seemed to be simply everywhere. Slowly, he lowered his hand, realizing that somehow, his eyes weren't bothered by this strange light. It finally occurred to him that the light wasn't golden, as he'd expect from sunlight, but silvery...

What do you want here, mortal?

He jumped. He hadn't heard a voice, not with his ears, but all the same, he had the feeling that something very forceful had just asked him a question.

"I... I came looking..." he stammered.

Looking? He wasn't sure, but he thought that voice was different from the first one. That one had felt in his mind like stones shifting and grinding, like a far-off rockslide. This one was flowing and rushing, like the ocean tides. Looking for what?

The same as all the others, answered the first voice scornfully. Just what they always want. Power, prestige, treasure... these mortals are all the same.

"I didn't want any of that," Professor Takenouchi hastened to assure the voices. "I'm a researcher. I only came looking because..." Again, he ran out of words. He felt suddenly uncertain. What had he been hoping to find?

He speaks truth, said a voice like blowing breezes. There is no greed in this mortal's soul... not for material things, at least. His cravings lie elsewhere.

I don't think he himself knows what he wants, said a crackling-flame voice. But we know, oh yes. Look, look at him. I haven't seen a mortal like this in eons, have you?

The speakers looked. The young professor felt an awful sensation of being seen, a terrible nakedness. It was a hundred times worse than a feeling of being unclothed; it was the feeling of having probing presences examining every thought he'd ever had. Then the feeling relented, leaving him feeling limp with shame and relief.

It is true, said the water voice. We've found an intellectual, a spiritualist, a man of the mind...

More than that, said the earth voice. Mortal, do you know what it is you are searching for?

"I'm not sure," the professor answered haltingly. "I think... I think I'm looking for an assurance that... that there is more than just the physical world. I'm looking for - for magic, and legends..."

And you have found it, said the wind voice.

There was a rustling, whispering sound, and the professor got the feeling there was a conference being held, something he was not part of. They were talking about him, weighing him, putting him on trial, and there was nothing he could say for himself because they already knew more about him than he could himself. At last, there was silence, and then came a unanimous verdict:

WE CAN USE YOU.

Something struck him. For a moment, he was drowning in silver light, something that flowed around him and through him, filling voids in his soul he'd never fully realized were there. He thought he screamed, though he couldn't hear himself - screamed not with pain, but from the sheer intensity of it all. It was over in seconds, leaving him shaken, but, against all his expectations, alive.

It is finished, said the earth voice. Attend to us now. You have been given a power.

"I noticed," he said shakily.

Do not speak lightly of it, said the voice of earth, nearly blunting his senses with its force. You craved magic and legends, and you shall have magic and legends. With that power comes responsibilities.

You have been chosen as one of ours, a mortal vessel of the powers of nature, said the voice of wind. A mortal who knows and understands the old ways, a man who will not use his power for selfish reasons, one who believes the legends not through ignorance, but because he needs in his heart of hearts for them to be true...

You will do our work, said the voice of fire. You have the knowledge, the tools, the connections. You will find the forces of darkness, supernatural evils that would destroy the balance of nature. You will fight them for us.

"What if I don't want to?" he asked.

There was amusement in the water-spirit's voice. You do.

He sighed and said nothing. Deep down, he knew they were right.

The spirits must have sensed his acquiescence, or perhaps they simply had no more time to waste on his irrational mortal worries, because at that moment, the silver light dissipated. Now he was simply standing on a stone, looking down the mountain slope at the rolling hills. In the distance, he could see the twinkle of a stream, and beyond that, the irregular blocky shapes that made up the town. He took it in dispassionately; all his emotion seemed to have been used up in that burst of gray fire. He felt more tired than he ever had before, an exhaustion that seemed to go deeper than just his muscles and bones... but below that, there were the first flickerings of comprehension.

At the bottom of the slope, he paused by the side of the stream and looked down at his reflection. He looked just the way he always had, except... except that just for a moment, something seemed to flash and shimmer at the back of his eyes. He nodded his acceptance of the fact before turning walking thoughtfully away.

~*~

Back in the warm safety of the kitchen, Professor Takenouchi wound up his narrative. He had tried to keep it as calm and factual as he could, and managed well enough, owing to the practice his profession had given him. Still, how well was anyone going to take a story like that, even someone who had already undergone so many unbelievable things? He searched his daughter's face for signs of disbelief, and found none.

Sora herself was surprised at how easily she accepted the story. She had vaguely expected that, once the shock had worn off, she would be feeling all manner of emotions. She certainly did feel limp with something, but it wasn't the disbelief and amazement she had anticipated. It took her a moment to pin down what she was actually feeling: relief. Not just relief at being rescued from the demon, though there was certainly enough of that, but something that was much deeper and closer to her heart. Her father hadn't wanted to leave her! He hadn't left her alone because he didn't care about her or because his work meant more to him than she did. He'd left because he'd had to, because he'd had no more choice in leaving her than she'd had in becoming the Chosen Child of Love.

"Is that all?" she heard herself saying. "You could have told me."

He did not look like a magical protector of anything when he was smiling sheepishly like that. "Not when it first happened - well, you weren't much more than a baby, then. As for your mother, well... she's a wonderful woman and I love her dearly, but she is at heart a pragmatist. Her world is bounded by running her shop and doing the housework and tending her family. There's nothing wrong with that - I need someone like that, to balance out my more mercurial aspects - but I don't know if she could have accepted it. Even if I gave her proof, she wouldn't believe it. She would have either me or herself committed to an institution before she'd believe her own husband is a - a wizard, or whatever I am."

"She accepted Piyomon," Sora pointed out.

"Because she had no choice," her father replied. "She had to accept Piyomon to save your life, and I believe that is one thing that will override any of her other inhibitions. She also had no preconceived notions about Piyomon, whereas I think she might have a few about me by now."

"That could be true," Sora admitted.

"So I didn't feel like I could say anything. It was easier just to pretend I was a scatterbrained professor who was more interested in chasing research trails than staying home with my family." The words were spoken bitterly; Sora could hear strain in his voice. She put one of her hands on his.

"It's all right," she told him. "I think I understand. They didn't give you any choice, did they?"

"No, they didn't. The gifts of the nature spirits are double-edged. There is a... a geas on me, I suppose you could say. I'm impelled to seek out evil and fight it. In return for getting what I wanted, I've had to leave behind the people I love most to hunt down things that would give an ordinary man a lifetime of nightmares... but I wouldn't give it up even if I could." He stared off into space, his eyes haunted. "The spirits were right... there's a part of me that needs this. If you believe in destiny, I guess this is it. It's just... not always much fun."

He tried a weak smile on her, and she smiled back.

"I'm glad I know now," she said. "Don't worry; I can keep it secret, if you want me to."

"I know you can," he said. "Believe me, it hasn't been easy, keeping it from you. I fought it at first - I really did - once I knew what was going on. I really tried not to leave, but, well... they have ways of making sure I do what they want. It took years of experimenting just learning how it works, discovering what I was capable of..."

His voice sounded vague, as if he were half-asleep. Sora eyed him critically, noting that he was not really sitting up, but still simply draped in his chair, and his face seemed gaunt. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in days. She frowned.

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked him. "You look like you need to rest."

He smiled weakly. "What I need is a good strong cup of tea and something to eat, preferably something sweet. And maybe a nap. After that, I'll be good to go again."

"Are you sure?" she asked suspiciously. "You'd better not just be telling me that so I won't worry."

"Far be it from me to lie," he answered. "Trust me. I've been doing this for years. I know what makes me feel better by now."

She accepted that argument and went to see what she could do to be helpful. She found the cake she had bought the other day and cut a generous wedge, and then began heating water for tea. While it was still warming, she set the confection in front of her father, who appeared to be dozing. He became more animated when he saw the cake, and immediately began attacking it, breaking off bits and devouring them without bothering with niceties like silverware. The reaction was oddly reassuring; he had, at least, been being honest about his needs.

"If you get like this every time you fight something, I can't believe nobody's noticed yet," Sora commented, as she added tea to the hot water.

"Don't worry," he answered. He sounded more awake already. "When anyone asks, I just tell them I've been up all night grading papers, and everyone believes me." He paused, either considering or chewing. "Actually, I think Shuu Kido might have an inkling I'm up to something, though I suspect he just thinks I'm a member of some strange but harmless cult." He smiled to let her know he was halfway joking.

"Are you going to tell him someday?" she asked.

"Maybe," answered her father thoughtfully. "If there is a way to... to pass all this on when I can't continue anymore, he would be my choice."

"You should tell him," said Sora, setting the teacup in front of her father, "and you should tell Mom, too. The people closest to you deserve to know. We can help."

"You could be right," he said, slowly. "I don't know, though. I'd have to think about it. I've been keeping the secret so long..."

She set a hand on his shoulder. "You deserve better than to go through it all alone. Anyway, Piyomon and I know, now. That's a start."

"True," he agreed. He took a long drink, emptying the cup in a few swallows. "I admit, it's nice to have someone to look after me instead of trying to do it all myself. There have been times I was so exhausted I had to skip school - had to stay in bed for days..."

Sora gave him an appraising look. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Fine. Just..." He yawned and tried to stifle it. "Just tired. It will pass..."

"It will pass faster after you've slept, I think," Sora said. "Can you make it upstairs?"

He surprised her by laughing. "I'm not that badly off! Really. It was only a small demon, after all..." He yawned again. "But you're right about my needing rest. Please excuse me..."

He got up, moving carefully but steadily, and made his way slowly up the stairs and out of sight. Sora listened a moment, but there was only silence after that. She shrugged, and, more out of reflex than anything else, began to wash the dishes.

"Are you okay?" asked Piyomon. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd gotten home.

"I'm fine," said Sora. "Really. I don't exactly know why, but... I feel better than I have in a long time. It's just... there's a reason for why he was gone, Piyo. He had a real reason for leaving me. A good reason, one that makes sense."

"Are you sure it makes sense?"

Sora surprised herself by laughing. "Well, as much sense as anything Dad does. I have to admit, there are an awful lot of questions I'd like to ask him... It'll have to wait until he's awake, though. I could use a rest myself, couldn't you?"

Piyomon nodded. "Even my feathers are tired."

"Well, why don't you dry these dishes as I wash them, and then we can both take a nap."

The two of them finished the chore together, and then meandered into the living room to collapse on the sofa. Neither of them felt it was really worth the effort to expend the energy needed to climb upstairs just to lay down. Piyomon made herself a nest among some faded old throw pillows, while Sora stretched out full-length and draped an arm over her eyes, blocking out the sunlight that was stubbornly pressing through the curtains. Even so, she failed to sleep, but only dozed, her mind spinning with questions and conjectures. If she finally did drop off, she dreamed of nothing at all, not even the mysterious man in gray.

To Be Continued...