(this is all told from Kaoori's point of view. Kthx)



Maybe it was all just a dream. After hearing of what had happened I have been quite on edge. The smallest noise sends me into a panic, and even if a call of a fawn sounds the slightest bit out of the ordinary I run, only to find that they were simply playing as normal.

but still.. something is not right in this forest. There is a sense of dischord where there was not before..



I made my way to the Birch woods. They were so vast that I could lay down and gather my thoughts without risk of being found. But suddenly, it seemed, out of nowhere.. a fawn appeared. From the mist..



something about this fawn..did not smell right. In fact.. she smelled of nothing. Of air..
Every bone and muscle told my body to flee, to run.. But she seemed afraid, and scared, and how could I leave a scared fawn alone?



when the young fawn passed right through me, I had everything I could do to not bolt right there. But she seemed so upset afterward.


could this be..? the fawn...? THE fawn?
An involuntary shudder creeped through me like 1000 beetles invading my veins. But she seemed so alone, so vulnerable...

..so... still alive..
is this what ghosts were like..?

She lay down after that, and I lay beside her. In her name, I vowed to help protect the fawns of the forest from any sort of harm.


Would she ever be able to truly rest now? Or will she be doomed to wander forever now?
I watched her disappear in the rain, and I shivered. I wasn't sure if it was from the raindrops.


I lay back down again, not sure how to act. I didn't want to tell anyone.. should I? Would they even believe that I saw a ghost?
I flattened my ears and lay in the tall grass like a newborn fawn. Not even the Forest felt like it could comfort me right now.

------
"Kaoori, what's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"That's... that's because I have."