Stepping up to Kozi, Yuki thrust the bow and arrow into his leather covered hands. The slick, dark brown wood was carved and molded perfectly. Tanned leather supported the frame and helped his grip. He slid it smoothly into the sheath strapped to his back.

Yuki leaned in close, taking a hold on the rusty brown locks harshly to push them out of the way and hiss into his ear. "I want all of them dead! Anyone you find in or around the estate or stable, destroy them!"

The cold, dark surrounded eyes looked up at him with a blank stare then he nodded. "When do I get my money?" He asked as he moved his head to the side to jerk his hair from the tight grasp.

Yuki moved away, absently flicking his horse whip against his calve. "You get it when you do your job."

"No."

Yuki turned back, his eyes wide in disbelief of being spoken to in such a way. "What did you just say?" His tight gripped on the whip until his knuckles turned white.

Kozi’s voice was smooth but harsh as he stood defiantly in front of the scowling man. "I want half of my money now, the other half when I deliver."

Yuki stood snarling for a moment then stormed to his over-cluttered desk at the far end of the room. From a hidden drawer on the inside of his desk and pulled out a wad of bills. He turned back to Kozi, who pretended that he wasn’t watching every mood he made, from the way he was constantly fixing his sleeves, or how he never put down that damn whip for a moment.

The folded bills were thrust at him. He took them slowly simply to mock him and shoved them into a pocket somewhere on his person. He smiled coldly and walked out of the room without another word.

Taizo fluttered his shoulders once to shake the snow from the long grouse feathers tied to his collar and crinkled his nose like a wild rabbit examining its food before eating. Tilting his messy white head, he ran thin finger tip from the top of the lean forehead just below a knit cap to the tip of the delicate nose. Cold.

His hand moved down to the long neck and rested over the pulse. It was strong, but getting weaker the longer the boy lay in the snow. Holding onto the lean shoulders he pulled the boy up into thin arms. It looked strange sense the other male was larger than he was. Taizo shifted him in his arms. He didn’t seem to weigh a thing to the frisky little forest spirit. He smiled and nuzzled his nose to the side of his cheek and a bit of pink hair fell down against his own nose.

"Wake up, you."

The man moaned very quietly, his head shifting very slightly as it was tickled by one of the shorter feathers but he didn’t wake. His lips were trembling with the rest of his body in the cold of the frigid winter.

Taizo frowned and looked him over. His clothes were thick wool but very shabby. He bet they were the only clothes he owned. The soles of his shoes were worn out. The largest of the holes was in the heel of his right shoe, the sock also worn very thin.

Taizo started to walk, the ground turned green beneath his feet. Soft, tiny Blue Bell flowers peaked up from beneath the snow. His bare feet were soft and un-callused, as he usually preferred to stay up his hiding places among the treetops. The forests were more and more becoming littered with hunters. He didn’t want to see his fellow forest creatures murdered by their arrows and knives.

It was easy for him to walk now through the trees. All the leaves had fallen months ago and the snow mashed down all debree beneath his feet. He smiled and raised his face with his eyes closed as he walked along the path. The snow gently hit his face and made him smile. Perhaps the humans preferred to stay indoors in such a storm, but why? He loved such cold days. He would never take residence indoors.

Kaoru was cold all over as he slept very lightly. Something was warm, very warm close to his side. A fever was clouding his brain and he couldn’t think rationally enough to try to discover what it was. He moaned as the rest of his body was very cold and snuggled up to the warmth, clinging to it. The warmest part had a bit of a curve to it, it was long and slender. His face buried into the crook and his body fluttered back into a deep slumber.

Taizo giggled and arched his neck to allow the man more warmth and tightened his hold. Now to find him a warm home with food and water for this human.

He stopped at the edge of the forest and bit the side of his lip. He didn’t want to leave the protection of his woods. He set the light man down in a dry curve of a large root of an Oak tree. The man still was very cold. He reached down and buttoned up the remaining buttons of his wool coat and pulled his cap farther down on his forehead. He straightened the legs of the pink head’s pants to cover the bare skin on his ankles.

The estate ahead of him was one he was familiar with. He had often seen the owner riding his horse around sunset on the very trail Taizo had taken to reach the mansion. This human seemed nice. He could tell because he took very good care of that horse. Every winter the horse was fed hay twice a day and cleaned and it’s hooves checked once a week. He wondered why he had only one when he had so much money. Humans were usually very vain and wanted to show off their wealth as much as possible.

Taizo didn’t watch the estate often but when he did he hardly ever saw any visitors, only the delivery men to bring him whatever he needed or ordered from the market. It wasn’t often.

There was a light flickering in an upstairs window. A single candle. Good, he was still awake.

Though he was a good man he wondered if this was the right place to leave the human. The roof probably leaked from the large amounts of snow piled on top of it, but there wasn’t anymore humans around for miles… He would leave him here, he would be well taken care of.

Now how would he alert the human the man was here?

He didn’t have to try to think of an idea very long as suddenly a dog started barking from the side of the house. There was a mud porch at the far left of the mansion, almost just below the light with the candle. Taizo couldn’t see very well from the distance, but he could slightly make out the shape of a dog in the window barking as he watched them at the edge of the woods.

Taizo smiled.

END OF PART 1