The early winter morning's sky was light gray because of the clouds that hid the real sky from the peolpe on the ground.
There wasn't many people outside at this hour, but a young girl, maybe 16, was out in the cold walking whit a dog.
Her red hair seemed to give the surroundings a warmer feeling.
She was dressed in a blue coat covering her dark pink sweater, a pair of jeans and dark boots and around her neck it was a warm, light pink scarf. She had the dark grey dog in a light blue leash that matched the collar.
"I wonder how cold it is? Don't you Cherry?" she asked the dog and smiled towards it.
Cherry barked and wagged her tail happily to the girl.
Sora, as her name was, did often go out whit her neighbors dog when they were busy, like this sunday morning.
She tought it was nice to be out early int the morning because there was no people or anything to disturb the silence. She knew every single road, house and shops around this area, becaus she had grown up here.
Thats why she was supprised to see a thing she had never seen before.
She had gone the road who led to the bridge which went over the river a few blocks away from her house.
Below the bridge, on each side of the river, there was a bit of ground where children used to play on during the summer. When she walked under there, she saw a shrine.
"That's weird" she said and stopped in front of it.
"I don't remember there beeing a shrine here"
The shrine seemed really old, or was it just damaged?
The most parts of the shrine lay on the ground around it, some parts were missing and some were broken. The only thing sthat seemed to not be damaged was the stone it had been standing on, and the stone figure who it was meaned to pray to.
The figure looked a bit like a fow, but when she looked closer, it resambled more like a ...
"Okami?" she said.
On a bit of wood who was leaning to the stone, it said whit a beautiful writing "Okami" and some other words. But they were too messed up to be abel to read.
"You look cold. Ah, I know" she said to herself and took off her scarf.
She lay the scarf arounf the statues neck and looked down on it.
"Well, now you don't have to freeze anymore" she said and started to go away.
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"I'm home!" Sora said and closed the door behind her.
"Welcome home dear" her mother greated as she came into the hall.
"But where is your scarf?" she asked
"Oh, I must have dropped it somewhere?" she said, looking at her mom and hope she was gonna fall for it.
"When it perfectly lay around you neck and you didn't feel that you dropped it?" her mother said and laid her arms across her chest, and gave her daughter a look that said you-can't-fool-me-you-know.
"Okey! I saw a really damaged shrine, and the statue looked like it was freezing, so I gave it the scarf!" she said.
"I knew you were a good kid. But, what kind of shrine was it? I don't remember there beeing a shrine nearby" her mother said as she walked into the kitchen.
"It was a strange on" Sora said as she followed her mother into the kitchen.
"It is below the bridge, you know, where I used to play when I was a kid" she said and sat down at the table.
"Is there a shrine there?" her mother said surprised.
"Yeah, I know. It must be a new shrine, but it was all a mess. The only thing that was still standing were the statue and the stone it was standing on" Sora said.
"Intresting" her mother said.
"Oh. I just remember. I'm going to Osaka to work for two months or so. I'm leaving tonight, so don't think of having any party" her mother said and smiled towards her.
"Why would I have a party? You know I'm shy" she said
"Just kidding whit you" her mother said.
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Later that day, at 18.45 PM a cab arrived to pick her mother up.
"Now, if you need to call me I wrote down the numbers you can reach me on. I told the neighbors, so if you need anything you can go to them. There's still food in the fridge, but I left some money if.."
"Mom! I'll be fine. I can call Mimi and Tai doesn't live so far away. Now hurry, or the cab's gonna go whitout you" Sora said.
Her mother picked up her siutcase and looked on her daughter.
"I'm sorry I have to leave. But it won't be too long" her mother said.
"Yes yes. Now go" Sora said and smiled. She gave her mother a hug and waved her goodbye from the door when she stepped into the cab.
"What should I do now?" she thought and walked into the living room.
She laid down on the couch and started the TV. She flipped between some channels before she turned it off and sighed.
"I'll go for a walk then" she said to herself.
She went out in the hall and took on her boots, her blue coat and some matching gloves.
"That's right. I gave away my scarf. Oh well" she said to herself and locked the door after her.
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It had become very dark in the hours she had been home. She were sure it was lower than 15 degrees.
"It's friggin cold!" she said.
Then she stopped and looked around. She had walked into a dark alley. The doors on that alley led into bars and certains "shops" where people in her ages wasn't meant to go.
"I better go away" she said to herself just as a door on her left side opened.
Three drunk men in middle age walked out, happily laughting, when one of them saw her.
"Hey, isn't that some nice chick or what?" he said and pointed on Sora.
"Ya right. We could sure have some fun whit her" the other said.
Sora felt really scared for the first time in many years. She turned around and started to run back the way she had come frome.
"Oi, she's getting away" the third man said, and all of the followed her.
For beeing drunk, the three of them seemed to be fast and have a grate balance, cuz the only fell two or three times.
"Oh God, why did this happend to me?!" she tought. Then she saw the bridge where the shrine was below, and whitout any hesitation, she ran towards it and hid beside the shrine. The three men had not seen her when she had run under the bridge, so they stopped and looked around.
"Find her, she can't have come too far" one of them said.
She closed her eyes and tried to become so small so they couldn't see her.
"Found 'ya" a voice said.
Sora opened her eyes and looked up on the man. The other two joined him and one of them pulled her up by dragging her arm. He had a thight grip which hurt very much.
"You shouldn't assult young ladies at this hour" a voice said.
The three men turned around, and even if Sora couldn't see the person propably, she knew it was a boy, maybe her age. She instantly hoped he was here to help her, but anything were better than these three men. He seemed quite tall and in the little light that reached under the bridge she coul see that he had long, light hair.
"And why does a fancy boy like you care?" one of the men asked.
"The question should be: Why are three drunken idiotic men doing to a girl beside my home?" he said
"Home? Does he live under a bridge?" Sora thought and then looked on her right side.
It was then she noticed that the wolf statue was gone along whit her scarf.
"Hey, where did the statue go?" she thought and looked around. Sora then remembered that one of the men were holding her arm, but his grip had loosen. She knew she had a slight chanse of getting the man to let her go, so she took it.
She kicked him in his side which made him fall down on the snow and he let her go. She instantly ran forward, to the boy and clutched his shirt. His shirt was very soft and Sora wondered what it was made of. She threw the thought away and looed up in his face.
"Pleas help me!" she said.
Now she could see that he had blue eyes, like the sea. He must have dyed his hair blond, because it was indeed light and reached abot to the end of his chest.
"As you wish" he said smiling. He shoved her to the side, took two steps forward and grabbed the two of the men who were still standing. He had one neck in each of his hands and forced their heads together and then let go of them as they fell to the ground. He turned around and smiled towards Sora.
"We better get out of here before they'll wake up again" he said and took hand and started to run.
She followed him up on the road and ran along the rode. The lights were on and she could now clearly see him.
First of all, he was a head longer than Sora. She had right that he had long hair, but it wasn't blond, his hair was white. He was dressed in clothes that looked like they were from the 18th century, they also were white. He was barefooted and had small wounds on them. But there were two thins that made Sora VERY surprised: on top of his head he had two silver white dog ears and at the same height as his hips he had a dog tail in the same color as the ears.
Then, Sora fainted.
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When Sora woke up, she was laying on the sofa, in the living room, in her home.
"What just happend?" she said and Yes, it's him" she thought.
Then Sora remembered the ears and the tail and looked on him whit a suspicious look.
"Who are you? What are you, and how did you find the way to my home?" she asked.
"Im Okami, and I felt your scent to this ... house and followed it" he said.
"Okami? They're extincted you know?" she said
"Yes, we truly are" the boy said and sighed.
Sora then noticed th thing he had around his neck; it was a pink scarf, very warm and comfortable.
"Hey, where did you get that from?" she asked and pointed on the scarf.
"This? You gave it to me, remember? Under the bridge earlier today. You had a dog whit you" he said
"Wait a minnit. You want me to belive you were the wolf statue?" she said
"Yes I was" he said.
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Author's note: First chap out. Relesed 3.09 am Swedish time. We're like, 8 hours before the guys in USA (at least in Wyoming). Please, read & review. If you don't like the pairing, don't read it.
Oh, for those who didn't know, Okami was the japanese wolf. It got extincted 1905 I think.