Chapter 3

(Kenshin)

I landed in my mother's tree, folding my wings quickly so as not to lose my balance. Those men were back, and this time they were carrying supplies to set up a camp of some sort. I studied them from my tree, crouching low in its branches so they wouldn't see me. The sun was low, nearly gone, but I was still being careful that they wouldn't see me.

They had set up tents and brought firewood so far, and I knew that they were planning to stay the night, and possibly longer. I did not like this one bit. I watched for an opening, and then leapt into the sky, unfurling my wings in one smooth motion and soaring away from the river. I flapped harder, rising higher in the air. I spotted my father by our cabin as I came closer, and I folded my wings and fell towards him, flaring them and halting just a few feet away from him.

"Kenshin," he said slowly, seeing the serious look on my face. "Is something wrong?"

I nodded, draping my wings over my shoulders as I had grown accustomed to doing in the past 4 months I had had them. "There are men, and they are setting up camp by the river. They were here on my birthday too, but they didn't stay long."

My father's eyes narrowed and he looked past me to the river, hidden in the trees. "This is not good. There have never been men on our mountain." He looked back at me. "What are they doing?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, they're just setting up camp right now." I cocked my head. "Why?"
He looked at me again. "Last time they were here your mother was nearly found out. I think they saw her wings, and they may think that she is still here." He moved closer to me, and put his hands on my shoulders on top of my wings. "You have to be careful Kenshin. If they catch you….."

He let it hang; giving me an opportunity to imagine what could happen. I nodded. "Don't worry tousan, I'll be careful."

He smiled and pushed my bangs away from my face with one hand. "I know you will Kenshin. I know you will." He turned and walked towards our cabin, and I followed after him. My father had been showing me these small acts of kindness, and I was growing used to it now. "We'll have to watch them to make sure that they don't try to come here. You remember the spell to hide your wings right?"

I grinned and placed my palms together in front of my face, whistling a high note. My white magic flickered around my hands, and then my wings faded from sight.

My father gave me a look. "You didn't have to be so dramatic."

I grinned. "I know. But it's just fun." I snapped my fingers, putting an ounce of power into it and my wings reappeared. "Can I go see what they're doing tousan?"
He studied me. "I don't know Kenshin." I pushed out my lower lip and gave him a 'please' look. He sighed. "Fine. But you had better not let them see your wings."

I grinned widely. "I know that tousan." I knelt down a bit, spreading my wings. I flared my wings, then pushed them down powerfully and launched myself into the air. I soared back towards the river.

I landed back in my tree, again folding my wings so I wouldn't lose my balance and so the men by the river wouldn't see me. I watched as they pulled out a few papers and studied them. I looked intently at them, and could easily see what was on them. My eyes widened. 'Drawings of my mother….'

They had seen her. I looked around the camp and now noticed ropes, nets, and other things. They planned to capture her. They were planning to come back for her, only she was no longer here. Only me. I shifted anxiously in the tree, and froze when one of the men looked up in my direction. I stayed still until he looked away, and then flung myself into the air and towards the cabin.

I heard a shout below me. "Look there!" I swore internally. They had seen me! I flared my wings frantically, trying to make my form harder to see. I flapped frantically, but I could hear them following me in the woods below.

I let out a screech, using my magic to amplify and play with the sound, twisting it to sound like an animal's cry. The men beneath me followed my cries, and I flipped in air to try and lure them away from the cabin. "A cabin!" I heard their calls and swore.

I dove ahead of them, trying to reach the cabin, when suddenly I heard a shout and heard the twang of a bowstring. I faltered in the air as something slammed into my shoulder. I cried out in pain and struggled to keep myself airborne, but I failed and fell through the air. I hit a tree with a painful crack, feeling the air leave my lungs. I quickly pulled my wings to my body to prevent them from being broken, but as I hit the ground my vision faded out and I remembered no more.

I came to slowly, pain registering first in my mind. I pushed myself up onto my elbows, and then held in a cry. I looked down to see the feather of an arrow, the point embedded in my right shoulder. I reached up and pulled on it, dislodging it easily. I whimpered and clutched at my shoulder, then looked up again. How long had I been unconscious? What had happened?

My eyes suddenly widened. My father. What if the men had gotten to our cabin? I lurched to my feet and began to run to our cabin, whistling a high note as I did. My wings faded, and I ran faster. I reached the cabin, and fell to my knees in horror.

The small building that I had lived in all my life was in flames, slowly burning to the ground. The men I had seen earlier lay scattered around the yard, all dead or slowly dying from fatal wounds. I stared in pure terror at our cabin, and then raised a hand to the flames. "Tousan…."

I leapt to my feet and ran for the cabin, ignoring the fire around me. "TOUSAN!" I screamed, trying to find him even as the fire burned me and signed my feathers and clothes.

I was forced out of the flames before they burned off my feathers, and I stood in the yard. "TOUSAN!" There was no answer to my calls, and I fell to my knees again on the dirt. My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes and I stared in disbelief at the cabin, burning down around my childhood and all that I had ever known.

I spread my wings and pumped them down, launching myself into the air. I flew high above my burning home, tears streaming down my cheeks to fall to the earth below me. I flung my wings wide apart, clenching my hands into fists and raising my face to the night sky above me. "NOOOOOOO!" My cry ended in a screech like that of a wounded animal, my magic flaring around me and spreading out in a huge cloud. I screamed to the sky, mourning the loss of my father, of my childhood, of my life.