Chapter Seven: Kumori's Choice

Authors Note: As you might have noticed, the last chapter was told mostly from Kumori's P.O.V. I'm trying to reveal the plot a little bit at a time so let me know what you think.

Kumori P.O.V.

I knew I had to talk to her so I followed her scent until I felt the ground shake. "What the-?" The scream followed soon after and I knew that voice anywhere. I ran in the direction the scream came from as I reached the edge of the clearing, I saw the edge of the cliff gave away. She was trying to climb back up and I barely had enough enough time to reach her as she lost her grip and started to fall. "Asuka! Hold on!"

She looked up, her eyes wide. "K-Kumori?"

I nodded and tried to pull her up. "I'll have you back up here in a minute."

Asuka looked away. "Just let me go..." Her voice sounded distant, almost like she wasn't herself.

I gritted my teeth and pulled harder but it felt like something was trying to pull her down. "I won't! Why are you saying crap like that?!" I yelled.

"I WON'T LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF AGAIN!" She shouted back at me. I just stared, dumbfounded. Asuka met my gaze and I could see love, along with sadness and heartbreak. "Please forgive me..."

I couldn't understand what she meant by that when she released my hand and fell into the darkness below. "ASUKA!" Ready to jump after her, I felt someone pull me back. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that it was Koga's son, Hiro, who pulled me back. "Why did you do that, flea bag?!"

"To stop you from doing something stupid, pup." Hiro sneered. He was exactly like his father, all right, just worse.

Mom's scent reached my nose. "Kumori, what happened? Where's Asuka?" She sounded worried and scared.

I couldn't look at her or any of them. "She fell when the cliff crumbled. I tried to pull her up but I couldn't. Hiro stopped me from jumping after her."

Dad stood near the edge and sniffed the air. "Good thing he did." He looked over at Koga. "You smell it, too?"

Koga nodded. "Yeah. The water can't hide it."

I looked at dad then at Koga. "Hide what?"

Mom answered instead. "The miasma. There's a river of miasma below here and if you were to fall in, there's no chance you would have survived."

I clenched my fist, my nails digging into y palms hard enough to draw blood. "So you mean to say..." I couldn't finish the sentence. I didn't want to believe it was true.

Mom nodded, her expression grim as her eyes shone with unshed tears. "I'm afraid so. If she fell in, she's gone." She wrapped her arms around me. "I am so sorry, Kumori, but we can't let you do this. Now tonight."

Her words rang in my head. That's right. Tonight was the full moon. Looking up at the sky, I could see the sun had already set and the moon was beginning to rise. Within a few minutes, my dog ears will disappear and my eyes will turn to the same color as mom's. Every month, I would lose my demon form like dad and become a human but instead of my transformations being on the night when the moon is dark, it always happened on the full moon.

Tomorrow morning I'll find her. I'm not giving up yet. If she was truly gone, I would feel it and until then, I'll keep searching. Little did I know that the meaning behind her last words would haunt me. Please forgive me...

Normal P.O.V.

Birds were chirping as the children were outside playing beside the river. One of them kicked the ball to hard and it went flying into the water, gently floating downstream. The little boy ran after it and when he stopped in the shallow part of the water, he reached down to pick up the ball and he saw something on the bank. He could tell it was a person but their face was hidden. Turning around, he ran to his grandmothers house and the eldery woman followed the child along with his father and mother.

When they reached the body on the bank, the mother knelt down and felt the person was still breathing. "She's still alive," the mother said. She and the elder woman gently turned her over and they were surprised by what they saw.

It was clear the girl was a priestess but what caught them off guard were the white dog ears on top of her head that stuck out in contrast with her black hair and a single red streak across each cheek.

Authors Note II: I'm sorry if this chapter is short. I was tired and this was a spur of the moment kind of thing.