2010/1- Suteko (abandoned child)

The forest that evening was dark, silent and foggy.   Tsuki no nai yoru-  a night without the moon.  To these three small deer,  it was an odd  and dangerous night to travel.  Wolves howled in the distance as a stag,  doe and tiny fawn huddled on the edge of a thicket, looking ready to  bolt at any minute.

The stag sniffed the air and paced impatiently.  “We said we’d drop her  off here and go.  I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to be.   This forest is not normal.. It never has been and I want no part of  it.”

He snorted, stomping his hoof, and the young fawn darted underneath its  mother.  The doe looked down at the fawn with a hint of concern which  slowly faded the more she looked at it.

“You’ve.. Never been normal, Kaori.. You’ll fit in better here. Your  strange looks, markings..the color of your fur.  They all stand out too  much, bring the bears and the wolves to us too easily.   I thought  perhaps you were a gift of the Kami, being so special.. But..”

The doe’s voice trailed off as she looked up to her mate. “Katsutoshi. We  should at least stay with her until she sleeps.  She will only follow.”

The tiny fawn had lay down underneath her mother.   She did not  understand much of what they were saying , or why they were here on such  a night.  

“You’d best hope she fall asleep quickly, Sayako.  I am not waiting  around all night.  The wolves are getting closer.  They’ve followed us  here, and they know there is a fawn with us.  They’re waiting for it to  come back outside of this forest”, Katsutoshi huffed, shaking his head and  snorting, before he lay down in the grass.   Sayako lay beside the fawn,  who quickly moved closer to her mother, seeking warmth and comfort.   She found little comfort, but the warmth was enough.   Her eyes drooped  as she became drowsy, and soon enough the world faded into silence and  darkness.

Morning came, burning away the fog.  The quiet forest had become busy  again; deer were everywhere as they usually are in this unusual forest:  eating, playing, going about their lives.  Each one looked different  from the other; fur and pelts of different colors, antlers made of  feathers, or regular antlers reaching for the sky.  Some had no antlers  at all.  It was this that the young fawn Kaori woke up to, but she was  far from interested.

There were two particular deer that were by her side the night before that were nowhere to be found.

Kaori scrambled up, bleating pitifully, running in circles.  This place  was not like home.  None of these deer were like the ones at home.  They  were strange, like her.  She did not want to be here.  But her bleating  only melted into the other sounds of the forest; there were other fawns  bleating playfully, bleating to their parents, and simply just  bleating.  Her voice fell on deaf ears.  Or it seemed.

A shadow loomed over the fawn, and a stag with poppies adorned in his  antlers approached her.  He wore a mask around  his kind eyes; his fur  was a navy blue and white color.  He walked with a benevolent air as he  strode to Kaori. The young fawn flattened her ears and cringed, but did  not run.

“Hello, little one.  What is your name?”

“Ka---Kaori.”

“My name is Yorres.”

Yorres lay down beside her, and Kaori settled, suddenly feeling comforted.

“You will be safe now.”

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Yeah, it kinda crapped out in the end, like most of my stories. xD; But I  wanted to write a story about Kaoori's past if she were a deer.. I  didn't know if I wanted to make her human reincarnated anymore.  Her  name was really supposed to be 'Kaori" but that name was taken on the  site, so I changed it to "Kaoori".. and it just stuck.