Yukiana and Tanuki left the city of Kei early the following morning. Before departing the Tora capital, Yukiana took time to write two letters. One was for her friend Captain Yoko, who would undoubtedly be upset and suspicious at her sudden absence. She wrote to assure him of no foul play by the Tora and vaguely described an important mission that could not wait for an explanation. She urged him to return to the Hino and his crew and thanked him profusely for his kindness in seeing her thus far.

  “It is beyond my comprehension,” she wrote, “Why someone would show me, a stranger, such kindness as you have. For one who has been treated so wickedly at the hand of supposed benefactors, you have become a paragon of virtue. I shall be in your debt forever.”

  The second letter she left for Tora Sōichirō, begging for his forgiveness. She implored him not to be angry with her but insisted that she would return with evidence of what happened at the Battle of Shinohara Beach. She asked him, quite boldly, to try and forestall any further acts of war before she had returned.

  “I know that this may seem like a strange request, given my station and how you may remember me. Yet I have grown since our last meeting, and I feel that it is my duty as your humble servant to help the lord who has shown me so much favor. Give me two weeks, and I shall return with any information I can gather.”

  Two weeks was an extremely short window, she knew, but she also knew that if she asked for too much time, the daimyō might abandon her request altogether. This would give him the faintest hope for her success, and for such a time he may be able to fend off the seemingly inevitable forces of war that were gathering momentum like a stone tumbling down the mountainside.

  Upon leaving, Yuki first tried to use her newest cat form to aid in their departure, but it proved useless, as she was unable to maintain the form for more than a few moments at a time. If she were to be caught mid-transformation, they would have a good deal of explaining to do, so after several unsuccessful attempts, Tanuki suggested that they abandon the idea entirely. From that point on, Tanuki spent his energies transforming her, just as he had done during their escape from the Shōgun’s castle.

  Not only did this take much longer than they had originally expected, but it made Yukiana feel like an utter failure. Despite this, they were able to make it out of the city without anyone noticing them. Since they had left well before sunrise, very few were awake, and of those who were, none seemed to heed a cat and a raccoon dog moving about together.

  Yuki kept her form for as long as Tanuki was able, rested in the dense cover, and then moved along once again. When they were a considerable distance from the city, she remained untransformed and traveled through the wilds on foot. They kept quiet, not desiring to be overheard, and stayed away from the main roads. This made for a slow trek through the rugged terrain of the Tora highlands. Yuki sensed that if they continued at their current pace, they would not even make it to Shinohara Beach in two weeks, let alone get there and back to Kei. An already difficult plan now began to seem hopeless.

  As if reading her melancholy thoughts, Tanuki stopped near midday to reconsider their strategy. “How are you feeling?” he asked, as the bright sun cut through the golden leaves overhead.

  “I’m fine,” Yuki lied, attempting to hide her deep-rooted disappointment.

  “Then it is time for another lesson,” Tanuki said, lowering his voice to a whisper. His beady eyes seemed fixated on something in the distance. Yuki followed his gaze and saw that across a sun-dappled clearing was a small herd of red deer, feasting on shrubs and the clear waters of a mountain stream.

  “Deer?” Yuki asked, crouching down to avoid being seen. “Do you think I am ready for that? I could barely do a cat this morning.”

  “You were distracted this morning. The anxiety of our departure and leaving behind your friends were burdens on your mind. We are far away from them now. You need not worry about being caught. However, if we are to help the young Tiger, we cannot go on like this.”

  Yukiana exhaled heavily. She understood her kami’s meaning.

  “Watch them,” Tanuki instructed. “Write their images in your mind, but do not stop there. Imagine what it is like to be one of them. What lessons could they teach us about the world? Why did the All-kami make them? What do they reveal about his nature?”

  She watched the red deer move about the open clearing, they seemed gentle, and yet at the same time powerful and majestic.

  “Now…” Tanuki commanded. “Transform.”

  Yukiana closed her eyes and did what she was taught. She focused intently on the deer in her mind. She focused first on its physical properties. Its round, black eyes, its lithe but powerful frame, its red coat with white spots, and its short fluffy tail. Then she meditated on the nature of the animal. To be gentle was easy enough, for she had always been a gentle-natured person. To imagine herself as majestic was the true challenge. She had never thought of herself in that way, and now that she had lost her left eye, what little self-confidence she previously had was all but gone.

  She opened her right eye and glanced down. She had not changed at all.

  “Is there anything else I am missing?” she pleaded, feeling her courage ebbing away. “I feel like I am missing something!”

  Tanuki sighed, and Yuki could tell that he was beginning to lose his patience, though doing his best to hide it.

  “I don’t understand! Why can’t I transform Tanu-san?”

  “I do not know,” Tanuki answered softly. “I do not understand it either.”

  “What was it like for you when you first learned to transform? Or did you always just know?”

  Her companion looked back at her with a strange expression, as if he had not considered this in many long years. He sat back on his hind legs and seemed to stare off into the distance.

  “I suppose I did have to learn how to do it,” he said quietly, as his tiny, black eyes seemed to wander slowly into the past, “Though it was ages ago. I have a confession to make. This is not my original form. I have always been kami, yes, but I was not originally this, a tanuki – a shapeshifter. I was once something else entirely. The problem is, I cannot remember what I was. I cannot remember anything about my past.” His words were soft and sorrowful, and he paused several moments before continuing. “I have vague memories of my former life, but they are blurred and indistinct. I do not know how I changed, or why, but I surmise that I must have done some ill deed and was cursed with this…” he stretched out his furry arms and examined them distastefully.

  “So, you were a different kind of kami?” Yuki asked, quite surprised to hear this. “Then you also had different powers.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Tanuki nodded. “Yes. One day I simply opened my eyes, and I was different. I had almost no recollection of my former life, and at first, I had no desire to find the answers. For many years following my reawakening, I lived a shameful life, exploring these new powers for my amusement and pleasure. I gained quite a foul reputation among the pantheon of kami, and even mortals grew distrustful of my kind because of my deeds.

  I even made enemies, of whom Kitsune was the chief. She despised me for sharing her powers and openly derided me before the kami so that I was eventually shunned.

  Over the years, there was a part of me that knew something was not quite right. There was some kind of tension winding itself up within me, like a sliver that I could not completely drive out of my mind. The worse I behaved, the larger that wedge grew, until it gnawed away at me incessantly, and I could put it off no longer.

  Not so long ago, I began to earnestly seek information about my past, and that has been a slow and arduous path. But that journey has brought me here, brought me to you.”

  “Then you bound with me to discover who you really are?” Yuki asked quietly, somewhat surprised at his candor.

  “Partly,” he answered. “I also did so to make amends for my years of reckless living, and for the great evil I must have done for me to be cursed with this form. I must try and protect this world, and as fate would have it, to do that I must stop Kitsune and her mortal counterpart, Ishihara. By doing so, I may unlock the secrets of my past.”

  He then turned to look directly at Yukiana and said, “Therefore, you must learn the art of shapeshifting, and I must teach you how. If I go back to my earliest memories, I do remember having to learn how to transform, as it was not something natural for me. But it was so long ago that I cannot remember how I did it. I do remember that it was not very impressive, and over the years my power grew and grew. I believe that your power will also increase with time.”

  “But I do not have the indulgence of years!” Yuki injected sourly. “I need to do this now!”

  Tanuki remained quiet, while Yukiana sat down dejectedly beside a tall oak tree. Her head fell back, and her eyes shut in painful contemplation. The force of her head upon the tree was just enough to dislodge a small acorn from one of the branches overhead, and it fell, nearly striking the tanuki on the nose.

  The kami moved out of the way of the small acorn to avoid being struck. Then, cocking his furry head to the side, he began to stare at the small seed which lay in the dirt before them. His expression began as one of confusion, then as one of inspiration, and finally turned to one of delight.

  “What is it?” Yuki asked, noticing the sudden change that had come over him.

  “Can you see this?” her kami asked without taking his eyes off the acorn.

  Yuki was confused by this question and answered, “Yes, of course I can. Why?”

  Tanuki raised his tiny paw and the hair on his back seemed to stand up on end. “That’s right!” he said as if to himself, “You have the Eye! You can see!”

  Yukiana, being already frustrated from the events of the day, afforded her teacher little politeness when she asked, “So?”

  “This!” Tanuki began, scooping up the small, dirty acorn in his paws, “Might be the answer to our problems. At least for the time being.”

  Yuki raised an eyebrow as a gesture for him to proceed.

  “This, you see, is a shinou, a kami-seed.”

  She examined it disappointedly. “It looks like an acorn.”

  “Yes, it does indeed, but if you were a mortal it would look like nothing at all, for it is not a thing of the mortal world. These seeds, which grow here and there are used by kami to restore their spirit or their energy. Think of it as a kind of nourishment for kami, though we do not need them as often as mortals need their nourishment. In a pinch, however, they can be extremely valuable. We often give them to other kami in exchange for services. I had to gather three hundred of them before I was allowed to ask but a single question of the Elder Kami.”

  Yuki nodded slowly but still seemed puzzled.

  “By ingesting this shinou, it may give you, temporarily, additional spirit, enough perhaps to aid you in your transformations. When we merged, we both ceased to be purely mortal and purely kami but became something new. As you recall, my powers were reset and are still slowly recovering. However, I was a kami to begin with. You were mortal and as a mortal, your spiritual energy was probably quite small. To transform requires energy, and you may not yet have enough.”

  Yukiana now seemed to grasp what her teacher was telling her. “Are you saying that if I eat this seed, I will be able to transform? Just like that?”

  Tanuki nodded feverishly. “It is worth a try at least.”

  Yuki agreed and took the acorn from the small creature before her in between her thumb and index finger. She held it up to her eye as if to discern any difference from a regular acorn. It seemed quite similar, though it did seem to shine a bit more in the light of the autumn sun.

  She put the acorn into her mouth and then began to chew. The taste was bitter, and the texture was woody and earthy, but she managed to get it down.

  “Very good,” Tanuki murmured, trying to keep himself from overexcitement. “Now, let’s try one more time.”

  Yukiana stood, moved her limbs about to ease her anxieties, and then closed her eyes and began to focus. She put forward the image of the deer she had used just moments before and let that picture wash over her and surround her. She felt something deep within her, a vibration, a wellspring of energy, and it was growing.

  CRACK!

  When she opened her eyes once again, she could tell that something was different. Her senses had increased tenfold, but nothing was more potent than her sense of smell. She could smell all of the deer from across the glade, the red squirrels in the trees overhead, and most of all the raccoon dog, who stood across from her, who had never seemed to have an odor before. For the first time in her life, she was able to detect the potent aroma of midday grass and the autumnal tinge of golden leaves overhead. She looked down at Tanuki, who was staring at her with his black eyes wide with wonder.

  “You did it!” he cried. “It worked!”

  Yukiana examined herself as best she could, and it was instantly apparent that she had taken the form of a red deer.

  “But how long will it last?” she wondered aloud.

  “Let us put it to the test,” Tanuki said, turning himself into a red deer, with a heavy set of antlers atop his proud head. “This way,” he commanded, pointing his nose toward the west.

  In an instant, he was off, and Yuki, not yet used to her new legs, stumbled after him. Tanuki was well-practiced and bounded effortlessly through the forest. He went so quickly that she quickly lost sight of him. Yukiana, though wobbly, managed to stay on her feet, and after some time she soon caught up with her companion. She felt as though she had unlimited power in her fresh legs, and the natural way she was able to leap over roots and rock was a marvel.

  Soon they were both traveling at full speed, and the rough, hilly lands of the Tora became like a blur in their periphery. They traveled for many hours in this fashion, until the sun began to fall in the western sky, and Yuki’s limbs began to burn with exhaustion.

  “Before you change back, eat,” Tanuki offered, stopping, and lowering his mouth to some grass that was before him. He began to chew and stopped only to say, “What you consume while transformed should provide you nourishment. We did not bring any supplies with us after all.”

  She had never eaten this kind of ruffage before and did not imagine that it would taste very good, but watching her companion voraciously nibble up leaves and the grass at his feet, she felt as though she should at least try. She was quite hungry after all, as she had not eaten at all that day. Yukiana lowered her head, sniffed around, and found a maple leaf that appeared particularly delectable and brought it into her mouth with her long tongue.

  “Not bad. It’s not bad at all. It’s quite delicious.”

  “I am glad,” said Tanuki, in between bites. “When you take on a form, you will share in that form’s nature, while maintaining your own. While sticks and twigs may taste better as a deer, it doesn’t top a big steaming bowl of pork soup in my book.”

  Yukiana laughed at this, and then, when she had her fill, brought herself back to her original form.

  She felt much colder as a human and immediately set about to make a fire.

  “So, with a shinou, a much longer transformation is indeed possible…” she heard Tanuki murmuring to himself. “But for how long?” He then turned to her and called out, “While you make the fire, I will go and search for more seeds. We cannot delay if we are to make it to our destination in time, but if we can travel like we did this afternoon, it might just be possible.” He began to scamper off into the woods, but before he left her sight, Yuki called out after him.

  “Sensei.”

  “Yes?”

  Thank you for not giving up on me. I hope that one day I can help you to remember your past.”

  Tanuki turned and replied with a toothy grin. “I hope so too, child. I hope so too.”