“That’s the spirit!” I said. “Now, all you have to do is watch for smoke in the sky. That will tell you where the worriers are. Tonight some of us are going scouting for signs of the warriors to try and stop them.”

     “How are you planning on doing that?” she asked.

     “By talking to them, and if that doesn’t work—” I started, but Hana started walking deep into the forest. “Where are you going?”

     “To think about something...alone.” She said. “There’s just something that I don’t understand about all this and need to think over it. I’ll meet you back at the cave.”

♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥

     Back in the village, something was terribly wrong. Sakura was getting more and more worried about Hana. She had been spending time with Aito and had almost forgotten about her sister. Ryu, on the other hand, had gotten himself so into cheering up Kari that he didn’t even notice that his youngest sister was missing. No matter how hard she tried, Sakura couldn’t help but worry about her twin sister.

     So, one day, when it was still dark, she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around herself like a poncho to protect her from the pouring rain, and she headed for the river. As she reached the river she saw that it was filling up quickly with the rain water. If I’m going to do this, I’d better do it and fast, before the river becomes to deep for me to cross back over, she thought to herself. She carefully jumped onto the tops of the rocks to get to the other side. She feared that when she returned that they would be completely hidden beneath the surface of the rushing water. She pulled her blanket closer to herself and headed into the forest to search for her little twin sister.

     She ran and ran through the forest, noting the unique features of the forest around her so as to help her get back safely. She ran for what seemed like hours and just as the sun was rising up did she begin to feel tired. She found a large hollow oak tree and climbed into it. Then she fell asleep.

     The rain was worse (if that was scientifically possible) by the time that Hana woke up in a large pine tree. She too had found shelter in a hollow tree. Her senses had become stronger ever since she had learned about who she really was. She crawled out of the tree and wet her face to wake herself up. That’s when she smelled something in the air. She didn’t know what it was but it was familiar. She hastily followed the scent. She had a bad feeling about what she was about to find. It took her about two minutes to find her sister curled up inside the hollow oak tree, fast asleep. She starred at her sleeping sister, more out of anger than of surprise. She didn’t know exactly why she felt mad toward her sister; all she knew was that she did.

     “Stupid fool!” she breathed, “Why did you try to find me, in this weather? I don’t want to be found, got that?”

     She picked up her sister and, with her new found powers, carried her back across the river. She placed her on the other side of the overflowing stream before disappearing behind one of the trees on the other side of the bank.

     “Sakura? Sakura!” someone cried. It was Aito, he had obviously gone to see Sakura and found her missing. He shook her awake, “Sakura, can you hear me? I need to get you out of the rain, you could get sick.”

     He picked her up and carried her away. Hana stood there, watching, her heart aching. She knew that Sakura wasn’t the same as she once was six years ago. But then again, neither was she. Neither twin was ever going to be the same ever again.

     “I hope that you find some way to forgive me, Chie.” Hana whispered to herself calling Sakura by the nickname that she had made up for herself after their parents died. “And may God be with you...for I can no longer call you my sister. For I am dying and will be reborn anew on the night of the full moon...a week from tonight.”

     And with one last, tearful glance at her old house and the distant village...she fled from the river bank.

Chapter 3

     “Sakura you mustn’t move, you’re sick.”

     “Ryu, I’m fi-fi-achoo! I’m fine!” Sakura protested. Ryu had woken up and began to fix his sister some medicine for her cold.

     “Being out in that rain for hours gave you a bad cold.” Ryu said, “You need to stay in bed and drink this.” He handed her a bowl of remedy-soup.

     “I want to go and find Hana! I’m perfectly al-al-achoo! Alright.”

     “Just stay in bed and focus on getting better.” Ryu told her.

     “But I have to find her...” she fell asleep.

     “Don’t worry,” Ryu whispered, “I’ll help you find her if she’s that important to you.”

♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥

     “There you are, we were worried about you.” I said as Hana approached the cave soaking wet. “Let’s get you warmed up.”

     I brought her into the cave and lead her to the fire I had started. She was shivering slightly, and I was afraid that she was catching a cold. One of my friends, Atsuo, rushed over and asked what was wrong.

     “Nothing, I think that she’s just got a cold.” I told him. “How’s Kohana, any better?”

     “Not really,” he answered, glancing back at his sister. “To tell you the truth, I think she’s gotten worse.”

     “Let me take a look at her.” I said, “Make sure that Hana stays close to fire.”

     Kohana was Atsuo’s little sister. She’s only ten years old, but she’s very smart and looks older. She has short white hair and deep blue eyes. She had become very sick over the past couple of months and we haven’t been able to find out what’s wrong.

     I’m the one in our pack that is very skilled in medicines and remedies, but I’m also the best warrior in our pack. There aren’t very many of us, only fifty or so of us are left. There are many young tiger children, but they often wander off and never come back or are separated from their mother. We only have the humans and the war to blame for that. There used to be thousands of us left, but ever since the war began, there have been only hundreds. We need to persist and flee in order to survive and preserve our kind, which has become more and more difficult over the years.

     During the war the humans need more carts to carry their weapons, so they cut down our trees. They need meat to eat and fur for clothing, so they slaughter innocent animals such as us white tigers. We hope that by bringing back more of our kind that the war will begin to cease and end. Then our forests and animals will be able to live in peace once more.

     I checked Kohana’s forehead. It was burning up; she was getting worse! I picked up some wet cloth and put it on her forehead. She was breathing deeply and her eyes were closed. I felt really bad that Atsuo and his other sister Emi had to deal with this. Emi is Atsuo’s twin. They promised to take care of their little sister when their parents were killed by warriors some six years ago. She has long white hair that was always put in a long braid and had emerald green eyes. Even though she and Atsuo are only sixteen, they act like adults because of their sister.

     “How is she?” Emi asked. “Is she going to be alright?”

     “It’s too soon to tell, but I believe that with some rest she should be alright.”

     I looked up at Emi’s face and gave her a confident smile. I knew that she was only acting brave for her sister because when we were growing up we were the ones that were scared and stuff. We loved to goof off and play games, but now that we’re older, we have to take on bigger responsibilities.

     “Want to come with me to get some food?” I asked Atsuo the next day.

     “Sure, but what about your sister?” he asked, nodding toward Hana, who had fallen asleep.

     “She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t wander off.” I said, and we went in search of food.

     Hana opened her eyes and looked around. She didn’t see me or Atsuo, so she tried to get up, but began to feel dizzy.

     “I guess I shouldn’t try to go anywhere.” She said to herself. “I suppose this means that Sakura is sick as well. I pray to God that she gets better soon.”

     One of the boys stirred. He looked up at Hana and she smiled at him.

     “You should get some sleep.” He said. “Tonight is the night that we’re to hunt.”

     “Hunt for what exactly?” Hana asked.

     “Oh that’s right; I forgot that you’re new here.” He said, rolling onto his stomach. “Once a month we go hunting. It’s more searching than hunting, you see, we search throughout the entire forest to watch for two things: First, if there are anymore white tigers that are in the forest; if their dead we use their meat as food and their fur as clothing, but if their alive we bring them back here. And second, we see how far the war has progressed and how far the humans have gotten into the forest.”

“Meaning,” He explained,”how may trees they have cut down, how many of our allies they have slaughtered, etc. It takes us about two full days and two full nights to do all that. I remember that one year it took us a week to bring all the white tigers we found here. So please try to get some sleep, or else they’ll kidnap you too.”

“What do you mean ‘they’ll kidnap you too’?” Hana asked.

“One time they found one of us. They took her and are holding her prisoner.” He said. “We’ve tried to get her free, but every time one of us goes near them we are badly injured or killed ourselves. They say that only a human would be able to set her free, but none of us are stupid enough to ask one to.”

“Can you tell me who it is that they’ve kidnapped?” she asked.

“Your mother,”

Hana starred at him. She was extremely shocked to hear this. At least I know why nobody’s called me daughter since I got here, she thought to herself. Then she felt a surge of anger toward humans.

“Tell me, who are you? And how do you know all this?” she asked.

“My name is Ichiro, and I know all of this because I have lived with this pack for my entire life...” he said, “...and because...because it’s my fault that your mother was taken.”

Hana was confused, how could it be his fault that her mother was taken by the humans? There was silence for a minute, then he continued, choking back his tears.

“I was being pursued by a group of humans. I was fast enough to run away, but then they threw something at my feet that tied them together. I fell and cowered in fear. But just as they closed in on me, your mother appeared. She freed my legs in order to save me. Unfortunately it cost her her freedom. I was just about to thank her when another human appeared and put a metal collar around her neck. He attached it to a chain and pulled her away.” He said, a few of his tears falling to the ground. “She told me to run away, that she would be alright. I was such an idiot! Instead of trying to help her, I ran away like a coward. I knew that everyone would be mad at me for letting them take her away, but I was such a coward...”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Hana said consolingly, crawling over next to him and putting her arms around him. “She wanted you to be safe, that’s why she risked getting caught. Because she knew that your life were more important than hers, she saved you from being killed.”

“I’m such a fool, crying at a time like this.” He said, wiping away his tears.

“You’re not a fool.” Hana said, “My mother used to tell me that it’s good to cry sometimes. So, there’s nothing wrong with shedding a few tears now.”

When Atsuo and I returned, we found them lying next to each other, sleeping peacefully.

♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥

Sakura wasn’t getting better, nor was she getting worse. Every day she was burning up and crying out about Hana. Ryu didn’t know what to do anymore and called for Priestess Yuki. Priestess Yuki looked over Sakura and said that it was worse than a cold.

“You say that she was out in the rain for hours?” she asked.

“Yes, Aito said that he found her near the river in the rain. But we don’t know how she got there.” Ryu answered.

“Is it possible that she went looking for this Hana girl?” Yuki asked.

“Maybe, but why would she go looking for someone near the river in the middle of a storm?” Ryu asked.

“Must find her...I need to find my sister,” Sakura whispered.

“Does that answer your question?” Yuki asked Ryu. “You’ve obviously got some explaining to do when she’s better. That is, if she gets better.”

“She has to get better,” Ryu said, starring at his sister. “She just has to!”

For the first time in his life Ryu hated himself, but not just himself, he hated this so called ‘Hana’ too. He knew that it was her fault that his sister got sick; he wanted to harm whatever it was that was precious to her because she had harmed the only precious thing he had ever had: his heart.

Chapter 4

     “Listen up everybody; I’m going to assign your posts for tonight.” I yelled as the sun began to set. “Alright, first off we have Atsuo and I searching the northwest of the river, Hana and Ichiro are to search area twelve, then we have...”

     “Where’s area twelve?” Hana whispered to Ichiro as I continued to give out assignments. “Is it far from here?”

     “Not very,” he answered. “It’s just the name we gave to the south part of the river. It’s funny, that’s the only area that is named, all the others go by their other name. Oh no,”

     “What?”

     “I just remembered, area twelve is where your mother was kidnapped.”

     “Well I’m not scared, are you?”

     “Nope, but I’m nervous,” he said, lowing his voice. “Nobody except Akira and Atsuo have ever hunted in area twelve, it’s strange that she’s decided to change it now...”

     “...alright, now that we have our posts, let’s get hunting!” I cried and we dispersed.

Hana began to pick up the scent of smoke, fire, and gunpowder. Hana ran as fast as she could toward the village that she used to call her home. When she reached the edge of the river, something made her stop dead in her tracks. The villagers were gathered together in on the edge of the village; torches and guns in their hands. Hana quickly conceals herself behind a tree and watches the procession. Then she sees something that makes her eyes water. Ryu and Sakura were at the front of the group, hand in hand, with hungry expressions on their faces.

“R-Ryu and S-Sakura have...no, they wouldn’t, not them!” she said to herself. “They love this forest, why would they want to help destroy it?”

Maybe they don’t know that fighting will help to kill the forest. A voice said in her head. Maybe, before it’s too late, you can help them to realize the truth.

“I’ve got it...I just hope that I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.” Hana says, and she begins to cry like a tiger cub.

Sakura stops, turning to look at the forest.

“What is it Sakura?” Ryu asked.

“Ryu, there’s one over there.” She said, pointing to where Hana was hidden behind the tree.

Ryu and Sakura break away from the group and walk up to the edge of the river.

“I know it’s you Hana.” Sakura said. “I knew that my sister would still be alive.”

“I’m not Hana anymore...and I refuse to be called your sister!” Hana said. “I can’t believe that you would betray me, betray yourself!”

“What are you talking about?” she asked confused. “We’re only trying to stop this war as fast as we can!”

“If you’re not Hana, then who are you?” Ryu asked.

“My name is what I was born to protect.” She answered. “As for you thinking that you’re going to save the forest, that’s a lie!”

“What are you-” Sakura started, but Hana cut her off.

“You think that by getting more weapons, more people involved, that the war will end and both sides will be able to live peacefully! You’re the biggest bunch of idiots I’ve ever seen. You used to love to play in the forest; it was practically your home! Now all you’re going to do is destroy the only secure place that I’ve ever known!”

“You people cut down our trees, pollute our rivers, and slaughter the innocent animals that have been on this planet longer than you have.” Hana continued, facing them, but keeping herself hidden in the shadows. “I was born to protect this forest and all the animals in it.” She steps forward and they gasp. “From now on...my name is Tora, Tora the Protector of the Forest!”

They stare at her in disbelief. She was beautiful, even by the dim firelight they could see her expression was hard, cold, and full of rage.

“Wh-we’re sorry,” Sakura said, bowing her head. “But to make it up to you, tell us what we can do to help you protect this forest.”

“First off, we need to stop the villagers from continuing on.” Tora said, crossing the river.

Sakura and Tora ran in front of the villagers, Ryu stood frozen on the spot. They hold each other’s hand and held out their free arms, blocking the villagers’ path.

“You will not go any farther!” they said. “You have damaged the environment enough!”

“What are you talking about?” Kari asked, she had been in the front of the procession.

“You pollute the rivers with your gunpowder and you slaughter the innocent creatures in the forest for more food then you need!” Tora said.

“It will lead to your own demise!” Sakura added.

“How will that—” she started.

“Because you need the environment to survive too!” Ryu yelled, standing between his sister and Kari. “You need the water to drink and you need the animals for meat. If you keep on killing them when you don’t really need them, then there will soon be no more of them to eat. If you continue on cutting down these trees, the animals will have nowhere to go; hence they will die along with our source of food.”

“Besides, war causes nothing but pain, death, suffering, and the unnecessary destruction of the beautiful world around us.” He continued. “I didn’t see that until now...and I regret everything that I’ve done since my sister left to begin to protect the forest in which she was born. Our mother was killed a long time ago by the other warriors, and she entrusted Hana and Sakura to me, hoping that I would lead them to become protectors of the forest...just like she and her sister were many, many years ago.”

“We’ll stop it you get the other side to subdue as well.” The village leader said.

“I’ll go and see if Ichiro has convinced them yet.” Tora said, and she took off down the forest path.

She ran for about fifteen minutes when she came across Ichiro.

“Did it work?” he asked. “Did you stop them from going to war? Well?”

“Yes, did you?” Tora asked.

“Yes, it wasn’t easy though,” he said, “I had to bring almost half the pack to stop them from continuing.”

“At least we’ve saved this forest and human kind in this region.”

And so, in the end the war was ended, Ryu and Sakura lived in their house in the village, Ryu and Kari fell in love with each other, Tora visited them every day, and Tora became known as the one that saved the environment from killing human kind. She became the princess of the Whtie Tigers and never failed to protect her family as well as her friends. She felt safe, she felt needed, but most importantly...she was loved and would never be forgotten.